Dregs Ninja
by extra type
Summary: Three kids from the bad side of the track are grouped together in one gennin Team, Yamato is suppoused to be there Jounin, but can he accept them for who they are? Used to be known as a stroke of bad luck
1. Chapter 1

Yamamotoe was scared. It was the first time ever he was going to be a Gennin squad leader. He was scared shitless. First all he would be their sensei a person of guidance. What if he guided them the wrong way? And most importantly they were Pre-teens. What if they were like the original team 7? He had heard horror story's from Kakashi about Sakura's borderline obsession with Sasuke. He could have a hyperactive one like Naruto. Or maybe the worse he could think of would have a student like Sasuke self absorbed arrogant ass whole. Maybe he would get weaklings? The best He had to hope for was that they were all sent back to the academy.

The first to arrive was the boy on his team. He had dark purple hair. And golden eyes. He was about the height up to his own shoulders. He strolled in very controlled measured steps almost as thought he had to think about each one carefully. He stopped in front of Yamamotoe. "Hello, my name is Keitaru Keiji." Bowing in respect towards him.

"Hello, Keiji I am Yamamotoe. I am happy to say that you are 15 minuets early and the first to arrive." Yamamotoe told the boy. The boy bowed again and with the same concentration walked all the way to Yamamotoe's side. The boy seemed to be extremely slow. They waited in silence for a while.

A little girl came up to them. She couldn't have been older then eight. She hugged a teddy bear close to her chest. The little girl had Big blue eyes that were filled with fear. She must be lost. "Are you lost little girl," He asked bending down to her height.

The little girl shook her head. "Are you Yamamotoe? I am supposed to be meeting him here for, for the formation of gennin team 9" That was impossible he thought to himself. This girl should be entering the academy about now. Not into a Gennin team. Yamamotoe took out the list to check it.

"Um what is you're name little miss?" He asked the little girl. With this the little girls thumb shot out of her mouth with an indianite pop. 

"I'm not little! And my name is Mitsu Kaida!" The girl told him. She had her little fist on her hip. Yep she was one of the people he was supposed to be meeting.

"Yes I'm Yamamotoe. And your right on time," He told her trying to make up for his blatant ignorance. She then turned her little body to face Keiji.

"And who are you?" She persisted. 

The boy slowly gulped "My name is, is k-k-eitaru Keiji," He spoke slowly trying to carefully force all the words out of his mouth. The boy blushed for the stumble of his words and looked down in shame. 

"You stutter? That's all right you don't have to worry about it. I used to stutter when I was little. I sometimes have a really bad lisp. But I never have when Yo is around!" The girl said delighted showing them her Teddy bear. The boy nodded listening contently to the rest of the little girls chatter. She seemed to really enjoy being listened to for once in her life. The other person was 5 minuets late.

The girl looked 13ish and had long waist length grey hair. Her eyes were a hazel brown. And she was wearing baggy black pants and a baggy black t-shirt. The t-shirt had some type of logo of a rock band on it. Or so Yamamotoe assumed. She had a skate board swinging at her side. She would be rather pretty if it weren't for the way her eyes roamed in on everybody in an almost certain contempt. "Is this the meating place for team 9?" Her voice was caked with a sarcastic tone. Yamamotoe didn't like it, it was full of disrespect. 

"Yes this is." He said shortly, making his tone hard and aware of hers. The girl just smirked a little "You are Nariko Zakuro I presume. You are 5 minuets late" 

"Wow you're smarter then you look congratulations. But please call me Zaki" The girl said. She then turned to the other two. Looked them over 2 or 3 times then with a little quirky smile said. "This just might fuckin work." 

Yamamotoe was astounded he was all ready in over his head. His team consisted of 

A: A slow moron

B: I little girl who carried around a teddy bear. 

C: And a disrespectful skater chick. 


	2. introductions

Yamatoe looked at his team. Kaida was sucking her thumb studying Zakuro. Keiji was also starring at the new girl Zaki, a dumbfounded expression on his face. A concentrating on each of her features . 

"So today we will just introduce everyone, get to know each other better," He told the Gennin. They all stared at him waiting for him to start. "Hello my name is Yamatoe sensei I am an anbu ninja that likes bath houses and hates jelly beans," He had no idea why he picked out those particular things but he did.

"I hate jelly beans too!" Kaida said in agreement. "But Yo loves them. He eats them all the time. But they get stuck in his fur. Then Mommy has to wash him. And Yo HATES getting washed. So he has stopped eating them for now. Even thought he likes them soo much. Its really sad." The 8 year old informed.

Yamatoe silently hoped this was all a joke. That these were hired actors by Kakashi or somebody else. But nobody came screaming out of the Bushes to yell that he had been punked. "Let's say our goals in life shall we? My goal is to train you guys into becoming the best ninja you can possibly be!" He said with overly happiness and forced emotion.

"Wow did you come up with that one all by yourself?" Zaki scoffed. She sat down on the ground and all the rest of them fallowed. Kaida seemed to want to go first. For her hand was in the air as though she wanted to be called on. If she wasn't careful her arm would be dislocated. He nodded at her to go.

"I want to be a great ninja! And bring respect and hope back to the Mitsu clan!" She squealed hugging her teddy bear closer to her chest. "Somebody else's turn now!" The girl turned to Keiji Inviting him to continue the conversation. 

"My goal is to learn how to control myself in a fight," He admitted. His speech was slow deliberate and controlled forced carefully thought out. He seemed very challenged in the speech department. His golden eyes showed with a hard thought in his head.

"That's very noble of you a ninja who can't control himself is a danger on any type of missions" Yamatoe told the boy to comfort him. Though Yamatoe couldn't picture the slow deliberate boy out of control. "Zakuro I mean Zaki what's your goal?" 

"Dude I don't have one, I just kind of skate by you know?" She said making her arm move in a smooth straight line in front of her. Her arm went out to her side and her eyes followed it. She looked at the line her arm made and what her fingers were pointing at. It was the Hokage mountain. Right at Lady Tsunada's head. The girl just stared at it contemplatively for awhile before speaking her mind. "How many heads do you think we could fit on that rock?"

"I've always wondered that too!" Kaida stepped in starring at the memorial. A humph of agreement came from Keiji and they all stared at the 5 heads in silence. 

"We should all get going," He told the three children they nodded in agreement and separated their different ways. After they had all left he striped himself of the fake smile.

He couldn't believe in his horrible luck. These kids were never going to make it. And he sure as hell couldn't teach them. He was going to yell at Iruka and Tsunada. 


	3. The Gennin

Kaida skipped home, She was happy about her team. They all seemed so nice! She wanted to tell Momma everything. She hugged Yo closer to her as the air started turning colder. She liked the boy Keiji he seemed genuinely nice. He listened and concentrated at what she said UN like other people who just dismissed her because she was young. She liked his eye's too they were so strange, it fit him. He was really tall to her and Kaida hoped she wouldn't get a neck cramp looking up at him all the time. 

The girl Zaki was a little odd but she also seemed fun too. Kaida had silently admired the girls straight grey hair. It seemed to fit the girl perfectly in her opinion. The shape of it radiated youthfulness but the color screamed of age. She also liked her team mates hazel eyes. That seemed to refuse to be intimidated. Yo had silently giggled when Zaki insulted their sensei.

Their sensei Yamato seamed nice enough. The little red head sensed that he was disappointed in the members of his team. His round eyes radiated fake interest as all of them talked. His stature screamed awkwardness and a longing for the encounter to be done with. Kaida hoped she didn't do anything to upset him. Maybe it was the fact that Yo liked jelly beans. But all too soon the little girl's house was in sight. 

It was rickety and small but it was wrapped in color and warmth. Her mother was standing at the door waving energetically. The little girl ran the last 50 feet into her mother's arm. "Mommy I'm back!" She squealed hugging her mother closer. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,_

Keiji was concentrating on his steps. That was his 28th time counting to 10. So he had walked 280 steps. He should be almost home. The purple haired boy counts to stop his mind from wondering around, but it does anyway. This time though his thoughts could not help but wonder to the people he will be risking his life with.

He wasn't sure what to think about any of them actually. Keiji was nervous about missions mostly. He knew that if he stayed a gennin he would get only C or D ranked missions. Not a big chance in seeing blood. Nothing Keiji couldn't handle. Keiji didn't want to be a great shinobi. He just wanted to control himself.

His golden eyes squinted at the ground when he thought about his team mates. They were women, they tended to be weaker. Get hurt more often, spill their blood. Their blood was cleaner though, NO! He stopped to hit himself in the head. Don't think that he should go back to counting.

_1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_

Keiji imagined the girl Zaki, her hair with a black drop of pure red blood. It would look lovely. The contrast of her evening gray and its stark red blood, spread out like STOP IT! He ordered himself ok lets start counting again. 

_1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_

Keiji also imagined the little girl Kaida, but for some odd reason he couldn't imagine killing her. Unlike the other 2. When he visional her death he got no pleasure out of it. Like normally, well he didn't get pleasure in killing. It was the act of fighting the sight of blood. He couldn't think of anything in a fight. His mind went to a peaceful bliss. A serenity he could never achieve anywhere else. 

_1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_

The Jounin didn't like any of them, it was apparent. The masked ninja hated being around them, He didn't even want to even think of getting to know them. The man wasn't giving them a chance it made Keiji angry.

_1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_

Keiji was home know. He saw his grandmother outside doing the gardening. And his grandpa was on his rocking chair on the porch. He waved at both of them before heading to his room. 

_1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10_

Zakuro slammed the door behind her. She was greeted by a yell, "Hey don't slam the fuckin door!" It came through from the living room. The grey haired girl just stalked through the cabinets.

"Thanks for the tip, where are the Fags?" She yelled to the voice.

"Were down to a fucking pack Zaki, you breath them in like air" Said the voice. At that the girl gave up her search. She strolled into the living room were a blond boy was lying on an ugly brown couch Watching a small static TV. The boy looked about 16-17ish with dark denim blue eyes. His hair was shoulder length. It should be the color of straw, but thanks to how greasy it was it looked dirty blond .

Zaki jumped over the edge of the couch to land on the boy's lap. He squirmed from the surprise. "Max you're a fuck tard" She told the boy. Taking the cigarette from his parted lips his eyes narrowed in indignation. But instead of saying anything he waited for the girl to get situated on top of him. After a while in silence the boy spoke up. 

"So how was your 1st day as a ninja?" He asked grabbing the remote from the arm rest. 

"Are captain hate me, theirs a slow dude and an 8 year old girl" She explained putting her chin on his chest. 

"Sounds fun" Max grunted.

"I don't know Max I really don't, I have no idea why I am still trying to be a shinobi I should just give up," Zaki told the boy hugging him closer. He moved himself on his elbows so he could face her. 

"Well it's a fuckin steady paycheck Zaki, and anyway you would make a good shinobi, but do what you want I don't give a crap," He admitted at this the 13 year old girl shrugged and got off of his chest. 

"I'm going skating see you later Max," She told him.

"You are coming tonight?" Max asked sitting up for the first time today.

"Nah Milton will be wondering wear I've been going, I've been coming over here too often," Zaki admitted getter her shoes on. 

"Zaki?" Max whispered his voice was grave and soft. 

"What?" She asked distractedly.

"Why do you go back there?" Max said. At the question the girl stopped. A pained expression came to her brown eyes. 

"I've told you Max, Sara needs me. Melton's a perv I can't just leave her alone with him" The girl argued it sounded more like an excuse to convince her self. 

"Sara's your mother, and a grown women. She can through her own life away. You don't have to go back to that shit bag" Max promised his eyes were begging the 

"We have had this conversation before max. As long as Sara is their I can't leave" She told him not meeting his dark blue eyes. At that Zaki grabbed her board and started to lave. Before she went through the door she yelled to the living room "See you later fuck tard." Max just stared at the spot she had been. Then he turned off the TV, he then got out a notebook and started to write. 


	4. A talk with Iruka

"Iruka!!" He seethed as he saw the chunnin sitting at the ramen stand. 

"What? What is it? Is there a problem," Iruka replied.

"My genins, their inept, not up to snuff. How did they even pass the courses?" He tried with all his might not to yell. 

"Do you want to sit down?" Iruka asked his voice was calm. Yamato did so reluctantly as the sensei ordered him a bowl. "Who's on your team?"

"The little girl, the slow retard and the disrespectful skater," He told Iruka as he parted his chop sticks. 

"Ah but two of those kids are amazing fighters," Iruka said indifferently. 

"Those two are not mentally stable! The girls 8 she can't become a ninja. And the boy! I looked up his file, what he did to those kids!" Yamato whispered menacingly to Iruka. 

"Keiji was only 5 then he didn't know what he was doing. None of the children died. And he tries and works hard. His soul is a good one. If he is given a chance he will be an excellent ninja." Iruka made an excuse for an old student. "Kaida is talent. The kage wouldn't put her on a team if she believed the girl wasn't mentally ready for it."

"She carries around her teddy bear; she should be at the academy or home." Yamato told Iruka. 

"Her family doesn't have enough money for the academy. They home schooled her with the thirds permission. She then came to the official exams and passed amazingly. Anyway the girl is the clan's last hope." Iruka informed the steaming Jounin. The pony tailed ninja looked to the side to see Yamato attack at his ramen out of pure frustration. 

"What about the other one?" He asked

"Zakuro? Oh I couldn't tell you." The chunnin blushed. This man was widely known for knowing all of his students extremely well. It was rare when he didn't know at least all their likes and dislikes. "She barely ever came to class, but when she did, she did her work. She was only rude if you talked to her. I never got a chance to confront her about it though, I tried once asking her to stay after class but she just left anyways" Iruka was always troubled by that one. The girl always tried to make herself invisible. Making sure nobody would notice if she was gone or not. He remembered more then once when he was checking attendance he would mark her absent when she was there, And then the next day mark her their when she wasn't. "I see no reason why you are complaining. They are genuinely nice kids." Iruka scolded Yamato.

"But why did I have to be stuck with the odd ones? I mean I saw the other Jounin teams there well put together. Each ability complementing the others. Mine look like they were randomly drawn from a hat." He seethed. 

"I don't make the teams," Iruka said "Tsunada does, if you want to complain complain to her." And get myself killed? Yamato silently yelled in his head. The Hokage had not been in the good mood and had been prone to flinging people out the window when she was annoyed. So to express his anger he stared at the Chunnin finishing his dinner. Iruka got up and left. After finishing Yamato went up to the counter to pay, when he got the check his heart skipped a beat. 

"Miss I only had 1 ramen you charged me for 16!" He said.

"Oh Iruka said you were going to pick up the tab," The girl said looking at Yamato. Yamato was going to kill that Chunnin.

"He ate 15 bowls of ramen?" He asked indignantly.

"No he only ate 1, Naruto was with him earlier," The cashier told him. Reluctantly Yamato paid for the meal. Why did he ALWAYS get stuck with the check? Right before he was going to leave the cashier stopped him. 

"Oh Iruka left this for you!" She said handing him a note. Yamato took it and read it. 

_Give them a chance; you might learn something from them oh and thanks for the meal!_

_----Iruka. _


	5. something to do with a watch

Yamato sighed as he waited for the rest of team 9 to meat him

Yamato sighed as he waited for the rest of team 9 to meat him. Today was the real Gennin test. He had talked to Iruka yesterday to voice his opinion. The chunnin had just said to give them all a chance. But the brown eyed Anbu was wary he had read over their records a couple of time. Their personal ability could cause them to pass even if they wouldn't make a good team. The first to get there was Keiji closely followed by Kaida. Zakuro was almost late but she skated into view just in time.

"Hello everyone!" He chirped putting on a fake smile. "I have a surprise for all of you!" Kaida gasped in excitement. Zaki's eyebrow's shot up in disbelief. And Keiji looked like he was trying to understand what Yamato just said.

"What is it?" The little girl squealed hugging her teddy bear "Yo loves surprises!"

"The real Gennin test this is the one to see if you are really going to be Konoha Ninja." He told them all their reaction's voiced worries.

"It's called get the bells. I have three bells on me if you can take them, you pass" He informed the three. Kaida started shaking a little, to stop herself she hugged Yo closer. Keiji eye's flashed a cold stare.

"No fuckin way," Zakuro said in indignation. "I already did a fuckin test to see if I'd pass, I have to do another one." Yamato checked his watch it was 1:00 now they had until 4:00.

"Yep you have until 4:00" Yamato smiled, he didn't know why he was so worried these kids weren't going to pass. He finally figured out Tsunada's plan for this team. They would fail the test. Keiji and Zakuro will probably be discouraged and drop out. Then Kaida can be put on a team that complimented her talents. Yamato walked to the middle of the clearing "Come and get me."

Keiji was the first to act on his words. He ran directly at Yamato with a punch. It wasn't hard to dodge, but even if it didn't hit him. Yamato felt the power of the punch. Impressive he thought reluctantly. Keiji kept coming at him with simple punches and kicks. Where were the other two? He didn't try to sense their charka, he needed to tone down his ability to give them a little chance.

Kaida took off her back pack. "You stay here Yo were you can be nice and safe ok?" She said to her teddy bear stuffing him inside. Then after she knew Yo was safely out of the way her eyes glazed a serious look. Her tiny hands were instantly doing little hand signs. Zaki just stared she had never seen hand signs that fast before. The Little girl finished in a solid punch of her fist together. Nothing happened right after. But Kaida didn't look nervous. Zaki, looked at the two men fighting Keiji was loosing, but he wasn't giving up. He was attacking their Sensei in unrelenting voles, enough to distract him from what the girls were doing. This could be her chance, Zaki thought to herself. She then turned quickly to face Kaida with her plan. But Kaida wasn't their anymore. In her spot was a brown 7 foot tall solid rock monster.

"Um Kaida?" asked Zaki at the creature. The creature grinned crazily at her and nodded. This really was the 8 year old girl that had been standing their second ago.

Yamato stopped for a second. He had just seen the little girl turn into a huge impenetrable tank. He was so distracted he didn't bother to try to block the punch coming from Keiji, the blow hit Yamato straight in the face. It flattened him straight to the ground.

Keiji was crazed he needed to finish the person he had just struck. He needed to hit and break the protective barrier of this mans flesh. Pierce the skin so nice red blood can come out, nice red warm blood. But when he struck the final blow all he hit was ground. His breathing was hard.

Yamato had easily dodged the final blow of Keiji's only to land straight in the punch of Kaida. When she was a tank she was a lot more powerful. The punch sent him soaring up in the air. Higher then any building in Konoha, it was a beautiful scene below thou.

"Hey Kaida nice punch!" Zaki stated smiling at the monster. "But how are we going to get the bells now?"

Keiji was still standing by the spot he had punch, heavy breathing and anger showing all over his face. Zakuro walked up to him putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right we'll get the fuckin bells." Unexpectedly Keiji turned around and punched her in the face sending the girls head into the tree.

"Blood" You could here him mutter under his breath.

Only barely because Zaki was yelling "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!!" Kaida tried to restrain Keiji from attacking the grey haired girl again but was too slow. He was moving as fast as lightning. Zakuro was lucky to dodge the next blow. But Keiji was too fast for her hitting her again. This blow sent her flying backwards.

"ZAKI!!" yelled the innocence of the 8 year old Kaida. At the scream Keiji stopped and started shaking looking at his hands. His face was sullen and the golden eyes' were filling with tears. Kaida cautiously walked up to him and put her monstrous hand on his shoulder.

"WHAT THE FUCK MAN! WHAT THE DAMM HELL ARE YOU THINKING!!" screamed Zakuro wiping the blood from her mouth. She marched up straight to Keiji.

"I-im-m s,s, sorry I c-c-cant control-l m-m-y self" The purple haired boy stuttered looking down to the ground in shame.

"It's all right Keiji" Whispered Kaida.

"NO ITS NOT FUCKIN ALL RIGHT!" screamed Zakuro she was bearing over Keiji in anger. Suddenly she forced him on his feet. Then realizing he was a head taller then her grabbed his caller and put her nose up to his. "You WILL do as I say! You will stop fighting when I say stop fighting! If there is no opponent on the battle field you will do nothing! You will start fighting when I say start! Got it?" She ordered he gulped and nodded his head. Then Zakuro threw him on the ground. Growling at him on the ground, "Get up you pig! We have to go Yamato's a prick but he's a Jounin he could be back any minute. SO you have to follow me" Zaki said starting to skate the opposite direction that Yamato was thrown. Keiji and Kaida just looked at each other and shrugged.

&

Naruto was eating his 5th bowl of ramen of the day when suddenly something landed crashing into the chair right next to him. "WHAT THE HELL?" he yelled in surprise.

"Stop swearing Naruto!" nagged Sakura. As she peered in the rubble it was Yamato.

"Hi guys," He said a dazed expression on his face.

"What happened to you?" asked Naruto, Kakashi and Sai helped Yamato up on another stool. Both trying to stifle the laugh when they saw Yamato's expression.

"Anything broken?" asked Sakura. The Jounin just shook his head.

"I don't think so," He said regaining consciousness.

"What happened" Kakashi now asked.

"Well I was doing the bell test with my genin team you know? The one where you have to get the bells and one of them punched me" He told them.

"The boy must be very powerful" Sai stated.

"Huh boy, no it was a girl she's 8" Yamato told him feeling jaw.

"oh you have Mitsu Kaida on your team?" Said Sakura "I heard Shizune and Tsunada talking about her apparently she wants the girl to be very hush hush cause she doesn't want another Itachi incident" informed the pink haired girl.

"Yeah that's her; I also have Keitaru Keiji on my team." Yamato breathed. Kakashi's eyes flashed at the name.

"Is that the boy who?" He left the sentence flat.

"Yeah that's him" What all Yamato had to say. Kakashi nodded a sad look spread across his face. "The other girl is name Nariko Zakuro but apparently she wants people to call her Zaki"

"Never heard of her is she a good fighter?" asked Sai a curious expression over his face. He had nodded silently at the other two names but at this one he took interest.

"I really don't know she hasn't tried throwing a punch at me all she did was stand their and look at her team mates."

"You should get going Yamato, Its all ready 2:00" Ordered Kakashi. Yamato huffed a sour expression on his face as he left. Yamato looked at his watch and nodded.

Yamato came on to the clearing they first were training with in caution. He stopped it was Bobbie trapped from one side to the other, Most were cleverly hidden , but some were painfully plaint. Going in their would be a death sentence. So Yamato started around the clearing looking for the spot the three were hiding.

Kaida was in the tree's right by the secret place, Zaki had showed her. Kaida was still in her monster form. She noted to herself she wouldn't be able to last for much longer maybe another 30 minuets. But she wasn't worried Zakuro's plot was amazing. It played on their Sensei's weakness. She silently giggled to her self. He wouldn't expect a thing.

Keiji was pretending to watch the clearing as he waited for Yamato to show up. He would have never thought this through if it wasn't for Zakuro. Keiji couldn't have imagined it. He had helped with some of the traps. He was very proud of them. He was pulled out of his thought as he saw the Jounin. Keiji started for him. Zaki would give him the ok to loose control. So he had to pull back not letting loose.

Yamato saw Keiji coming a mile away. The boy wasn't running at full speed. Yamato noted. His punches was also half hearted. Something was up Yamato quickly threw Keiji to the ground. "if you don't attack with all your vigor your opponent will get the best of you" Yamato told the angry boy. Then taking Keiji and throwing him by the tree. The boy's eyes suddenly grew fierce. He attacked with more heart.

"One who strikes in anger grows careless" The Jounin stated flipping Keiji on his back. Yamato was having fun he wont even have to use any of his ninjutsu's on these kids. But where were the other two he wondered. He now knew what they were doing. Keiji was backing Yamato up in the clearing. Those suckers were trying to trick him. They were using his reluctance to actually attack them against him. Pretty smart actually.

Zakuro was hiding in the bushes, she was amazed at the Jounin's underestimating of them. She knew that, he had figured out their plan about getting him in the clearing. But he was still clueless about their real plan. She carefully rolled her skate board into position and shot out of the bushes." Hey what going on Keiji your screwing up the plan!" She yelled at her team mate. "I can't believe you. I'll just have to do it myself!"

Yamato looked at her, so they can't work together. That would be a problem if they passed. Keiji he saw looked confused and hurt. The boy suddenly turned around and started attacking Zakuro. He punched the girl in the face throwing her back ward she landed in the tree's. She then attacked him. It was painfully obvious he was a much better fighter. For he was beating Zaki into a pulp, should Yamato split it up? He decided to try just because Zaki started looking really hurt.

"Hey stop it!" He tried to order stepping in between the two. But when he stepped up to break them up he didn't step solid ground. It was Zakuro's skate board; He tripped and fell flat on his back. The skate board then went flying at Zakuro hitting her so she fell right on top of Yamato. Then it hit Keiji in the face sending him backward. Then out of no where. The girl Kaida still in her monster form jumped out. She slammed her fist into the ground making it spread out like a tidal wave. Sending all three of them flying back in different directions. Yamato checked the bells all three of them were still their.

Kaida was powerful but slow, Yamato got up quickly with Keiji following. Both the Gennin tried to tag team him. But they failed. He had assessed their abilities both had potential He noticed the girl Zakuro hadn't gotten up from the blow. Should he see if she's all right? He started backing up to where she had landed.

Kaida was worried had Yamato found out their plan? Is that why he was going to check on Zakuro? She was getting tired. She couldn't maintain this form for much longer. Her body was on the brink of giving out on her. 15 more minuets and she had to go back to her original form. Zakuro had better hurry up.

She got it! Zakuro quickly got up and started toward Yamato. She needed to give this back to him quickly time was running out.

Ok the girl was all right. She had gotten up all fine and dandy. Then something, went under his foot not this again, he thought to himself as he fell flat on his back from being tripped by the skate board. Then The girl Zaki tripped on him falling straight on him again. But this time in a compromising position. They both tried to get up but failed and fell down again. They finally after a couple attempts both got up. Yamato looked at his watch; it was 4:00 right now they had failed. Yep all three bells were their.

He got Kaida and Keiji in a foot binned with his wood jutsu but Zakuro dodged. She didn't continue attacking him though for he stated "It's over all of you fail!" He tried to keep the edge of disappointment off his face. During the fight he had saw both Kaida's and Keego's potential it was a real shame he wouldn't be training them thou, It was all for the best. He looked at what was going to be team 9; Keiji looked like he didn't understand what had happened. Kaida started crying really loudly, Zakuro looked silent. She turned to Yamato.

"I'm sorry, We've wasted your time, but I hope you have a good life" The grey haired girl said going up to Yamato and hugging him. He tried to hug the girl back.

"C-can you l-l-let us g-g-g-go?" stammered Keiji. Yamato did Kaida was crying even more heavily now. Zakuro went up to her and held her hands. Looking at the girl.

"Oh don't cry Kaida you did the best you can," She patted the girls shoulder. The girl stopped crying a little. The boy Keiji walked up to them too his hand was grabbed by Zakuro's he smiled a little.

"W-why d-don't we get some ice cream," He stated slowly thinking of every single word coming from his mouth. The little girl brightened at this and hopped up and Keiji's back.

"Keiji can you carry me? I'm really really tired!" She stated resting her head on his shoulder. He nodded and the three took off for Konoha. Yamato after that quickly went the other way.

Yamato felt guilty, he had never given the kids a chance really. But what could he do about it now? He sped up to the meeting place to tell Tsunada the bad news.

Tsunada was their waiting for him, surprisingly he was the first one their. She looked shocked. "Yamato you are early!" Yamato looked at his watch, what was she talking about he was 15 minuets late.

"No I'm not I'm 15 minuets late" Yamato stated.

"No its only 3:30, is your watch broken?" Tsunada said. "Did they get the bells?" She asked she all ready looked annoyed.

"No the bells are right" Yamato stopped himself the bells were gone.

"How did they get the bells Yamato?" Tsunada demanded, he was speechless they were their when he had stopped them. Then it a cured to him the girl Zakuro had hugged him afterward and he hadn't checked after that. They must have gotten a hold of his watch and changed the time then gave it back to him. It was the times that Zakuro had fallen on him. He had guarded the bells knowing that she might try to steal them when they fell on each other. He hadn't guarded his watch so she took that instead. The second time she gave it back to him so he would let his guard down. The other two started smiling at the end because she gave them the bells not because of the ice cream. He told this to Tsunada who was smiling at him. "Well that's it then, Team 9 is the first Genin team to get approved" She then stamped their file. Yamato rushed out to find his team and tell them the good news.


	6. Home lives

The three sat their in silence eating their ice cream

The three sat their in silence eating their ice cream. Keiji had ordered a plain vanilla cone, Kaida the biggest Sunday they had. Zaki had ordered nothing but she did pop a cigarette in her mouth. People looked at her strangely but said nothing. They all waited for their Sensei to show up.

"Guys when he asked who thought of the watch plane please tell them Kaida did," Zakuro told her two team mates. Both of them looked confused and indignant.

"But YOU thought of it!!" Kaida whined. "I don't want to take credit for something I didn't think of!"

"It's n-n- not right z-ak-ki." Stuttered Keiji.

"Just do it ok?" ordered Zakuro.

"My momma told me not to lie, why should I lie for you?" Kaida told her.

Zakuro plastered on a fake smile, leaned down close to the little girl, "Because were a team. And were supposed to look our for each other right? Good Shinobi would lie for their team mates."

Keiji and Kaida both looked reluctant. But nodded in agreement all the same. Yamamotoe finally showed up 5 minuets later. "You guys didn't tell me which ice cream place you were going too!" He joked. His smile was big and genuine for the first time.

"May I sit down?"

"Yep!" Kaida said. Scooting to the right.

"You guys got to tell me who thought of the plane?" Inquired Yamamotoe. He was very impressed with his team. Maybe they weren't so bad after all. They figured out his weakness. And fast too. They had brains and brawn. This was going to be a great team.

"Um I did," Kaida whispered, she didn't look at Yamamotoe when she said it though, and glanced side ways at Zakuro. The rest of the team nodded with her.

"She's a little genius," Assured Zaki blowing a smoke ring in his face.

"I'm hungry I want another sundae!!" Whined Kaida.

"Y-y-you just had-d-d the b-biggest one they off-offered," Keiji said.

"Yeah but I'm still hungry!!" informed the little girl holding her stomach as though she was starving.

"Don't worries I'll pay for all of your ice cream, a celebration for the new Gennin team," their sensei suggested.

They finished their eating and said their good byes, going their separate ways. Yamamotoe noted that all of them headed towards what was known as the Dregs. The scum and low lives lived their. It was the Ghetto of Konoha lived. Most Shinobi came from the middle class, there was only one Jounin Yamamotoe knew who had come from their. And he had moved out right when he became chunnin. Gai didn't talk about his child hood, but everyone knows that one of the main reasons for him being over zealous was because he didn't ever want to go back their.

Kaida was so happy. Her mother and father would be so proud of her! She skipped all the way home with Yo swinging at her side. Yo was even more happy then her, he hadn't even asked to stop at the candy store like he always did. When she got home she saw her mother waiting for her at the door.

"Mommy, Mommy guess what?" She shouted while throwing her arms around her mother.

"What darling?"

"I am an official Gennin know, my teams an official team!"

"That's great honey, I'm so proud of you"

"Is daddy home yet? I want to tell him the good news."

"No daddy should be home soon, they got another job!"

"Really? That's amazing. He was out of work for so long. I was afraid we would have to move again."

"Now you don't worry about any of that Kaida, got it" Her mother ordered. "Now come on and help me make dinner."

"Great I'm starving"

Keiji marched home in the dark. He knew his grandparents would be in bed. So he tried to be as quit as possible. To his surprise when he entered the gate he saw his grand father sitting on the rocker. His pipe was un lit and his face was set in a grim frown. Keiji gulped.

"So?" His grandfather said, rocking back and forth. His wrinkly face never leaving his grand sons.

"I passed grandfather," Keiji bowed. He saw the old mans face light up with relief and he closed his eyes.

"What are you still doing upstairs? You should go to bed, Now!" Barked his grandfather suddenly, Keiji followed his ordered. If Keiji didn't know any better he would have thought he saw his grandfather with tears in his eyes.

Zakuro slipped into her bedroom unnoticed. She heard the T.V. blazing downstairs. Milton was still awake. She slipped down in her PJs. A t-shirt that was way too big on her and some boxers. Covering up in her blanket. She huddled her knees closer to her chest. Zakuro prayed that nothing would happen tonight. That he would just leave her alone. That he would be too drunk to do anything.

Heavy steps echoed up the stairs. He was going to his bedroom. Please pass Zakuro thought to her. Today was such a good day please don't mess it up. But nobody seemed to be listening to the girl for she heard the bedroom door creak open. She didn't need to turn around to know who was in the doorway.

"Why Zakuro, You finally decide to grace us with your presents. Do I have to punish you?" His voice oozed over to her. Zakuro stayed silent.

"I'll take that as a Yes then!" The man ripped the covers off her body. "Oh no Zakuro You is wearing a clothes that's no good. What did I tell you about wearing clothes?" Zaki stayed silent her eyes were closed shut. The sound of his belt hitting the floor rang through her ears. "I'll just have to punish you for the little Slut you are." The figure leapt on to her bed he leaned over her like a cat waiting for its prey to move. She didn't do anything. "Fine then I'll just have to do it myself" The figure started attacking her neck with his mouth. Zakuro did nothing just shut her eyes and tried to forget the drunk on top of her covering her with his saliva.

Kaida and her mother sat their waiting for somebody to return home. A heap of spaghetti in front of both of them a man stepped through the door.

"Daddy!" Squealed Kaida as she got up from her chair to go and hug him. The men kneeled down to her eye level and gladly accepted a hug.

"oh my little dragon, How was training today?" He asked holding her in his bear hug.

"Great! Come on lets eat I'm starving," Kaida told her father pulling him to his seat.

"I love you honey," He told her.

"I love you too dad! Come on lets say grace before I starve to death,"

The man laughed a full laugh at his little daughter. "I really don't know where she puts it all," Sighed her mother.

"Dear God,

bless this family as we eat and remember you. And all the things you do for us. Please be with our little dragon as she travels the path of Shinobi. We thank you for this dinner and food in front of us. Amen." Her father finished their prayer and they all started to eat.

Yamamotoe sat their drinking with Kakashi, Anko and Neji. Neji and Anko were also new Jounin their teams had also passed the test. They sat their discussing tactics and missions.

"I still think it's fishy that you got the genius Yamamotoe," Anko slurred. She had no tolerance for Alcohol.

"No it's not," He replied taking another sip from the cup. "I'm a genius also,"

"I'm glad they teach you humility," She chuckled. "Do you think yours will be ready for the Chunnin exams?"

"Um I don't know. Kaida will be ready, I'm not sure about the other two."

"Keiji going to be a handful on missions." Kakashi noted.

"Nah he's a good kid. He's kind of like Naruto and the Fox, but doesn't have a demon inside him."

"No he's a berserker, their even worse. You can seal the Nine tail fox. You can't do that with a berserker." Kakashi said, his voice was graved. It totally rained on Yamamotoe parade.

"Yeah yeah I know"

"What about the Zaki girl? She didn't seem a total loss," Neji commented.

"I don't know she lifted my watch with out me knowing. That's got to count for something. I really don't know what to make of her yet." Yamamotoe admitted.

"She seems like a real Spit fire." Anko told him. "You better watch her so she doesn't do anything stupid"

Max rolled over on his side, to see a woman he didn't recognize totally naked by him. She was rather pretty so he didn't regret what ever they did. Tapping came from the window. Max didn't have to look to know who it was.

"Hey you, Yeah you who ever you are." He yelled so the women would get up. "Take your clothes and get the fuck out of my house."

She sat up indignantly, "But we just made love!"

"We had sex lady! Gosh I don't even remember your name. Know get out of my house." Max shouted, throwing her panties at her. She looked confused for a minute then got up.

"Fine what ever!" She got up to help him pick up the discarded clothes.

"Get going now!" Max was impatient. She was finally dressed and at his door when she turned.

"You're a freaking whore max!" Then stormed out carrying her shoes by her side, a couple minuets later Zaki appeared at the door way. She headed straight to the shower. Max got out a t-shirt and pants for her. And waited for her to finish. When she got out

She didn't say anything but went straight to the Refrigerator, taking 3 things of sake out opening one out and chugging it. Tears streamed down her eyes as the liquid she drank burned her throat.

"You got the cheap stuff again Fuck tard," she mumbled whipping her face and heading towards the sofa. She lay down and turned the T.V. on. Max walked over to Zakuro and moved her head so it could rest on his lap. They watched reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies. Zaki drank the Sake until it knocked her out. When this happened max hoisted her up and put her in his bed.

Max looked at his best friend looking so peaceful in her alcohol induced coma, He wanted to hold her and tell her it was all right. But he knew from experience that she hated being touched after it happened. So he didn't do anything he just laid her down. And whispered in her ear. "Remember Zaki I'll always be here for you."


	7. The Gennins familys

The three sat their in silence eating their ice cream

Yamato woke the next day at noon. He had given the kids a day off before starting actual training. And so he could get over the hangover he had. He was flummoxed he didn't know how to start training these guys. He sighed, two of them had a blood line limit, Keiji and Kaida he would look those two up in the library. sigh He hoped Anko had just as bad of headache.

At the library it took him an extremely long time to find the book he was looking for. There was only one chapter on Kaida's clan, Mitsu.

_The Mitsu clan has been around for over 600 years. Though originally nomadic travelers, they settled in Konoha during the great resting period. Due to There nature most of the clan dispersed to different sides of the world after a couple of years. Though they all meet up at there holy place by the circular stone structure in between the great forest of the fire nation and the great desert of the wind country, every 50 years, where a new high templar is selected. _

_There blood line limit usually shows up 1 in 100 from there clan. In the latest survey there was 300 Mitsu's scattered around the world. Only 3 have been censored so far. The ability of there Kiekie Genkai is that they turn into an Impenetrable Stone giant. Only a high amount of charka can scratch it In an experienced mitsu you would have to have the charka level of a tailed daemon to hurt them. Though the person can only remain in this state for a limited time with out it causing damage to there body. The longest time any one has ever stayed in it was 2 hours. _

_The after effect is that it leads the person in a constant state of hunger, and being un able to gain any weight. Most that have the blood line limit are very small and petite. To recognize someone from the Mitsu clan, they have red hair and blue eyes, and are usually very short. _

That was all that was on Kaida's clan. Wow she had kept it up for about an hour and a half that should be good. And the fact that it made her immune to regular ninja weapons is amazing. That would be very useful. Yamato was going to B for beserker when he saw this

_The Extinct Nariko clan._

_The Nariko clan has mastery of all 5 elements. But they were wiped out by the Uchiha clan, leaving not enough survivors to actually regain Clan status. Prone two heavy drinking and depression there numbers were diminished further by a curse put upon the main family. When the leader turns 37 on the 13 of October will commit suicide. There has been no official record of the clan since._

Well that was interesting, he didn't even no there was a Nariko clan. Did Zaki even know? He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't. It was so vague, and mastery of the elements. He finally realized that she had used her Kekkei Genkai to position her skateboard. Smart girl, but how did Kaida know about Zaki's powers? Well Zaki could have told her during the down time. Now to the berserkers.

_Berserkers are technically not a blood line limit, but a mental disability. Due to the fact that the reasoning part of the brain is smaller then the muscle section. At some sensory trigger the brain loses control. Making the subject becoming incredibly violent and uncontrollable. Also they can't feel anything while in this state, causing some to keep fighting even after they are dead. All the 7 swordsmen are well known Berserkers. _

_It was a mental state that the land of the mist tried to bread into there fighters to make them stronger and fiercer._

_Another well known one is called Keitaru Mayuri, He was on a Gennin team with the third Hokage. Saving the Hokage's life countless time. Originally offered the position to be third hokage he refused and appointed Sarotobe instead. After that he retired with his two children. _

_Keitaru's case of Berserk was special because every time he went berserk he would grow approximately 2 inches. And before he retired he was 8ft 10 inches. _

Yamato was surprised, IS that that Keiji was related too? Wow, Keiji was all ready his own height. He will become a giant before the year is over. Well at least he eats less then Kaida.

Yamato walked out of the library. It was a beautiful day. He wondered what the others were doing.

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"I'm HUNGARY!!" Whined Kaida to her mother, Her mother was tall and beautiful. Rich tan skin and long blue hair. Her eyes the color of grass. Her smile like a warm summer's day. Kaida sighed she wished she looked like her mother. But she doesn't she looked like her father.

Her father was a short man, very small and petite. His hair the color of apples hanging to his shoulders. His eyes the color of the sky. He had to wear really thick glasses all the time. Her mother sighed at her, "Kaida you promised to help me with out complaining." Kaida scrunched up her face.

"But Mama, all we do is feed starving people, and I'm starving can't you feed me?" She pouted her mother laughed.

"My little dragon, these people need it more then you, there homeless and have no where else to go." Her mother explained. "Can you get the peas?"

"Yes Mama." Kaida went over to the kitchen and got a huge sack of peas for the soup. The two were making the soup for the homeless shelter. Kaida's mother ran it, but she never got paid, it ran only on donations. But she still continued.

"Your father will be back in time for lunch dear." Her mother stated. Kaida smiled a huge grin

"Yeah!!"

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Max jiggled Zaki out of his bed. "Zaki got to get up know, you promised to run errands for the Zoo today," Max said. The girl groaned inwardly. The zoo was a Bar at the very heart of the Dregs, They knew the owner she was a tough ass. If Zaki was late she wouldn't get paid.

Zaki finally pulled herself out of bed and got dressed in some more of Max's stuff. "I swear I wear more of your stuff then I do my stuff." Maybe because you havn't got a new pair of clothes since you were 9 thought Max thought to himself.

Zaki just managed to skate into the bar in time. "OIY WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU FUCKIN BEEN YOU LAZY ASS GIRL." It was Allie the owner. Zaki looked at her she was a pretty brunette. With more natural um talent then Tsunada's.

"Yeah I'm here stop fucking yelling." Zaki said, "I better get paid a hefty some today."

Allie smirked, "Oh no your step dad was here, he gambled your pay check all away. And he owes me 400 more dollars. So you'll be working for free in till you pay it off" Zaki groaned inwardly, that was all of her Gennin pay check. She still needed to pay off Sara's debtors too.

"Dam you're a bitch, why didn't anybody stop him?" Zaki asked more of the air then Allie. Allie started laughing her head off.

She stopped before and looked Zakuro up and down, "You could always join the girls upstairs. You're really pretty and talented you would get a lot." Girls upstairs AKA prostitutes.

"No thanks" Zaki said.

Allie just shrugged, "I would bug you more, but I owe your father a whole lot, so I won't bring up the subject again."

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Keiji knew exactly where he needed to go that after noon. He knocked on his best friends Addara's door. Her mother Yoshino opened the door. "Is- Ad-ad-ad-da-ra here?" he asked.

Nara Yoshino smiled at him, "Of course Keiji, how was your test yesterday?" Yoshino asked anticipating a negative answer.

HE smiled a full smile, "My team passed with Flying colors!"

Yoshino looked shocked, "That's great!"

"Mom!" A girl screamed from behind. "Oh hey Keiji." It was Adara; she looked exactly like her mother with darker hair.

"Did-did you pass-ss-s?" Keiji asked his best friend.

"Yeah," She looked reserved like she didn't want to celebrate in front of him. "Did you?"

"Yeah," He said. Adara threw her arms around Keiji. "Omg Keiji that's amazing!"

Keiji blushed a little, "What are you two doing?" A gruff voice asked from the doorway. It was her father Shikato.

Adara sighed a little "I was just congratulating him dad gosh!"

"Hn" Shikato had never liked Keiji, he thought he was stupid. Which Keiji agreed with him whole heartedly? "Well congratulate him a little further away."

"Te-tell me who-who-whose in you're tea-team." Stammered the purple haired Gennin. Adara rolled her eyes and took Keiji's hand.

"Let's talk about this in my room." She ordered pulling Keiji up the stairs.

Shikato continued to stare at his daughter, his wife rolled her eyes at him. "You know Adara and Keiji have been best friends since before the academy, no matter how you try its not going to change."

"Hn"

Keiji sat down on Adara's bed he looked around at the clashing tomboy and preteen girl stuff in this room. Like his best friend it was having an Identity crisis. "You're room looks messed up." Keiji said not stammering. When ever he was around her he wouldn't stutter.

"thanks" She spoke sarcastically pulling out her special box of unhealthy snacks.

"So who's on your team?" The boy asked again.

"I have that Lee Vang guy, you know the one that was always like second best in the class? After Parker pop, Then I have" Adara rolled her eyes in anticipation. "Hinabi."

Keiji perked right up, Hinabi was only the smartest, fastest, prettiest girl in class. Keiji had a huge crush on her. She would always make fun of him, and belittle him. But Keiji didn't care as long as Hinabi noticed him. "You're lucky there really good who's your sensei?"

"Hinabi's cousin Neji, he's a jack ass. He gave us an hour long lecture on destiny. You know how boring that is? NO wonder Hinabi is always wound so tight. She has to live with that guy!"

"You shouldn't make fun of Hinabi; she is a very talented Koniochi." Keiji blurted face flushed.

Adara rolled her eyes "You really have to get over her; she is never going to give you the time of day."

"Hn" Keiji knew this drove Adara so in retaliation Adara pounced on him and started beating him with a pillow.

"I can't believe you just put those two letters together in front of me." Adara yelled hitting Keiji every syllable with her fluffy pillow. She was now straddling Keiji's hips and was trying to hit his face. But Keiji was protecting it with his forearms. "I here that every two words. Hn form my brother Hn from my father! It's not even in the dictionary!"

Suddenly the door to her room opened, it was her brother Shikimaru: he looked at the two his eye brow raised. Adara quickly left off Shikimaru.

"I told you to nock before entering Shika idiot!" She yelled. "MOM!! Shikimaru just entered my room without knocking!" Adara yelled downstairs. Shikimaru shot daggers at his little sister.

"Tattle tale," He whispered.

"SHIKIMARU!!" Yoshino's voice echoed from below. "COME DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"

"sigh Yes mom!" Shikimaru yelled before shutting the door. Adara just started laughing and leapt back on the bed were Keiji was still lying.

"Never mind about my team mates tell me about yours! I can't believe that Zakuro girl actually passed I mean we all thought she was a flunky, and what's the other ones name?"

"Her name is Kaida, she's 8 and she got home schooled. She can turn into a huge rock giant."

"Fun,"

"I didn't get to see Zaki fight at all, but I think she's as smart as your brother." Adara eyed him in disbelief, this made Keiji tell her all what happened yesterday.

"Well it seems that this Zaki girl thinks she's too good for you." Adara spat, she didn't like how Keiji described the grey haired girl in great detail.

"Hn"

"OH NO YOU DIDN'T!"

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There was a little down time for Zaki about 2ish. She sat down; Allie surprisingly came up to her at a small table in the back. "So I herd you became a shinobi." Allie put it delicately.

Zaki put her Sake glass down, "Yeah?"

"Well are you serious about it?"

The younger girl shrugged in indifference. "I don't really care, you know? It's a steady pay check."

Allie started shaking her head, "It's not that simple Zaki, it never is."

"What do you mean by that?"

"sigh I mean that your going to have to choose."

"Choose what?" the grey haired girl started getting defensive.

"Your from the dregs, the worthless shit hole in Konoha, people don't even consider it APART of Konoha it's so different. Do you think you can just waltz into Konoha and expect to be treated like an equal? You're either a KONOHA shinobi, or you're a dregs girl. You can't be both."

"What do you know about it hu? Has there even been a shinobi from the dregs before?" Zaki's voice started to rise.

"Shinobi are liars and cheaters Zaki!! They can't be trusted, they say they protect the people they promise to do ALL they can to make life better from there friends down below, but they never do! They forget about us and become one of the many masses who won't even go in the dregs! I mean you know this just LOOK at the Uchiha's!"

"That's a totally different case! It's a totally different subject."

Allie's voice was shouting now. "No its not, the elders the Hokage and all the government turned a blind eye to the dregs suffering, they let the Uchiha clan run the dregs like it was there own personal crime center! They controlled everything in our lives Zaki; to how much money we made, how much food we got, If our house and businesses paid enough for protection cost. If we didn't it would have a mysterious fire, and guess who would collect the insurance? Oh that's right the Uchiha! And all the while they sucked us dry The Hokage, and Elders and shinobi did NOTHING for us. What does the government even do for us Zaki? Nothing and YOU want to be a part of that?"

"WHY DOES IT EVEN MATTER TO YOU? ALL THE MONEY I GET IS GETTING SUCKED DRY BY YOU!" They were both standing up now.

"Zakuro! I don't charge you interest, I don't tell you when you need to get the money in, that's because your father was one of my best friends. But you have to start thinking. You are NOT going to be able to continue this double life, how long? How long will those uppity shinobi let you play there game? There going to find out that your step fathers a gambling addict, that your mother is a druggy, or that you're an alcoholic by 13. Do you think there still going to let you in there little club? NO you'll tarnish the reputation of Konoha. KONOHA shinobi don't do THAT! KONOHA shinobi don't do THIS! They'll make you change who YOU ARE. And then before you can blink on eye, you won't be Zaki the little skater girl from the dregs. You'll be Zakuro the upstanding KONOHA shinobi. You will lose all of yourself to those people Zaki. And in return you'll die a liar and a fake all for the name of the place that only took care of you when you were useful." Allies finally sat down glaring at Zaki, Zaki was glaring back. Both of their chest were heavings.

"Do you need any more of me or can I leave for the day?" Zaki spat.

"I think it would be best if you left and didn't come back until your head has been cleared." Allie said quietly.

"Hn" Zaki ran out of the bar grabbing her skate bored and started skating away as fast as possible.

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Kaida was walking behind her mother, caring a huge cauldron of Soup on top of her head. "Momma, Why is the soup lighter then it usually is?" The little girl asked.

Her mother sighed, "It's because our old investors were put in prison for drug dealing, honey. So now all we have to live off of is the donations during Christmas time."

"But mama, you said most the people who go to your shelters are druggies, and they lost everything cause of there addiction! And if the money they give the drugs lords for there drugs go to us who feeds them…how does that solve the problem?" Kaida asked her 8 year old eyes brimming. Her mother stopped in the streets.

"It doesn't Kaida, the only way those people will ever get better is if they get help for there addiction, but we don't have enough money to feed them let alone try to get them into rehab. So all we can do is take the dirty money and try to use it for the best we could. Its not the best plan, but it's the best we can do our situation." Her mother explained looking her daughter straight in the eye. "I know it's hard for you to understand but you…"

"It's ok Momma I understand, I don't like it but I understand."

Her mother looked at Kaida, "I think that makes me even sadder that if you didn't get it my little dragon."

"I DON'T WANT TO MAKE YOU SAD MOMMA" Kaida yelled quickly.

Her mother put a reassuring hand on Kaida's shoulder, "No its fine honey, we better gets going before the soup gets cold."

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"Bye Keiji!" Yelled Yoshino as she set the tall young man packing with a good amount of cookies.

"Bye miss Nara," He stumbled food slipping out of his mouth.

Moving home as quickly as possible, he had to go through some bad territories, to get there. Keiji didn't actually live in the dregs; he didn't actually live in Konoha either. He lived on the outskirts of it. His grand father was kind of a hermit when it came to these things. He hated being near people. According to Grandma he was a war hero. But Keiji never saw any trophies.

Before the Third Hokage died the old man used to come and sit on the other rocker on his porch and smoke a pipe with his grand father. They would never say much except that it was great not doing anything. Nobody has touched the other rocker on the porch since.

He ran through Salem Street, it was the worse of the dregs and on this type of night Keiji would have to fly to not be stopped to be mugged or something. Even though he wasn't from the dregs technically, in school the kids would call him Dreg head because he was stupid.

When he got home he was shocked, why was Yamato there?

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Yamato had hit his head over the wall all times today, how to make his team a team. How to get them all to participate? How to make there abilities complement each other? After about 3 note books filled with failed plans Yamato had given up. He needed a drink. Getting up from his desk, maybe he would go ask Kakashi senpai for help.

Going to Kakashi's house was easy, considering he lived two floors above him. Knocking on the door he was surprised to find the Grey haired ninja there. "Hey"

"Hey Kakashi, I need your help."

"Go away its my day off and the new Icha Icha is here."

"I need help prepping my team."

"You want advice?"

"Yeah

"Interview the people close to them, don't ask the Gennin themselves if its ok. You'll find out more that way." Kakashi told Yamato.

"But isn't that a little under handed?"

Kakashi gave Yamato a blank look, "Were Ninja's sneaky is what we do." He then shut the door on Yamato. God he was in a mood. But it was a good point. First things first, He should probably interview Keiji's grandfather about Berserks, how he can control it. He probably would just have to find out where Keiji lived first…

Getting there was easy; it was kind of out of the way. It was a nice house, in the middle of a forest. The front yard had a beautiful garden. That could have been in better homes and gardens magazine.

An old man rocked on a rocking chair. His even sitting down he was taller then Yamato. "Yes?" He said his voice a deep grating sound.

"Um hello, I'm your grandson's Squad leader and I would like to ask you a few questions about the boy." The old man stayed silent. Yamato new this was going to be a hard interview.

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The interview went surprisingly fast. Keiji's grandfather said the very minimal. They were interrupted by Keiji's return. "I should be going, see you tomorrow Keiji." Yamato excused himself.

"B-B-Bye Sensei." The teen boy said head bowed. "At-At- the sam-same place as la—st time?"

"Yep 7:00 sharp." Yamato smiled in return getting a sheepish nod. He had gotten very little about Keiji from his grandfather. They seemed like a family who spoke very little. But now Yamato knew that Keiji was very sensitive to blood. That was his Trigger. That would have to be worked on, but his grandfather told him a technique the first used on him.

He would lock Mayuri up in a wooden cage and then slowly introduce his trigger and Mayuri would have to control his rage. If he didn't he would make the cage smaller. As the old man put it, it was a way for the first to train the others of the group without having to worry him screwing it up.

Now It was off to Kaida's house, it wasn't very far from here a little more to the dregs then Yamato was comfortable with but he would deal. When he got to the door he was surprised at how small it was, it looked even smaller then his apartment. There was a light in one of the windows. He knocked: a man of about 5 foot answered the door, he had apple red hair and sky blue eyes. Thick Broken glasses adorned his face and his clothes were all wrinkly, it looked like the man slept in them.

"Hello?"

Yamato gave a smile, "Hi I'm Yamato"

"You can tell Tsunada that I'm not done with the old Flick text yet, it will take me at least 5 more days." He breathed. His was shaking all over, nerves were getting to the man.

"Oh I'm not here from the Hokage."

The man started getting defensive. "Then why are you here? I paid your taxes on time this year."

"No I'm not here for that; I wanted to talk to you about your daughter,"

"Why is she ok? Did something happen?" God this man was jumpy he reminded Yamato of woody Allen.

Yamato put his hands out to steady the man, "No she is fine I'm her squad leader and I wanted to talk to you about her learning and such."

The red head sighed in relief, "Oh of course come in please: you must think I'm a real prude."

"Oh no not at all," Yamato stepped into the little house, it had two rooms, the bigger looked like a Kitchen/lounge/ working space, the other room must be a bed room.

"Please sit down," The man said pushing a wade of papers out of one spot. "I'm sorry for sounding anxious but this is the first in a long time I have work to do, and well I want to do a good job. And this text about the Jinchuriken is not easy to decipher. What was your name again I forgot?"

"Yamato, Uh yeah could you tell me about Kaida's home schooling? Do you have the Kekkei Genkai?"

"Oh no I don't have it, Mosses my 7 cousin 2 removed on my mothers side, would come twice a week for 4 hour training. It was really effective; she got straight to the point. Kaida really took a liking to her."

"Can you tell me where Mosses lives then?"

"Oh she travels all over; she has like most Mitsu's the nomadic spirit and can't stay in one place for very long. She's probably I don't know."

"What do you do sir?" He couldn't help but ask, Jinchriken were classified information and this pauper had a flickein paper about it.

"Oh well I decipher old text, but it's not a very steady job, I get paid by the hour and well there haven't new old text found. Until now, and it's in old Flick, which I haven't had to decipher in about ohh I don't know 17 years. I know about 20 some dead languages. And sometimes I lecture at colleges but I haven't gotten a job like that in a very long time." No wonder this man was a rut, he had a lot of pressure riding on him.

"What does your wife do?"

"Oh she runs the local soup kitchen and homeless shelter, we don't get paid doing it but we feel we owe it to the community. That's where Kaida is right now if you want to know, its chicken soup knight and that always has a good turn out."

"Oh no that's fine, Do you know how I can get in contact with any of the other three that have the blood line."

"Well I don't know where Mosses is right now, and Ken and Andy wouldn't be of any help. They like most of the Mitsu clan have taken a vow of pacifism."

"Is that common in you clan?"

"Oh yeah almost 95 of our clan is pacifist, including myself. Kaida will make the decision when she has her Khafnei during the great meeting a year or so from now. We told her to decide if she likes being a Shinobi before committing to it." The man had started fidgeting again. This was enough for Kaida.

"Thank you for your time, Uh sorry what's your name?"

"Lido, Mitsu Lido, my wife's name Kin."

"Thank you Lido." With that He left the shack.

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Max was looking for Zaki at her house, he knew it was the last place she would probably be but it was worth a shot. He already checked, Milton wasn't home, neither was Sara. He was heading out when he bumped into a man, The man had brown hair and brown eyes a stupid mask lined his face, and it bore the Shinobi sign on it. Oh crap. "Hey I don't know why you're here, but what ever they told you it was a lie."

The man looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh nothing."

"Ok, IS Zakuro here?"

"Zaki is not here, neither are here parents. Why do you care?" Max was speaking fast, was Zaki going to be kicked out of being a Shinobi all ready? He had heard of the fight between her and Allie, would Allie be right about the things she said?

Why was this boy so defensive? He was defiantly hiding something. "Well I'm her team captain I wanted to ask her parents question about her."

"Oh I'm her best friend, you can ask them to me." Max said, this way he could edit everything that wasn't needed to be said. The two guys stood there for a second.

"Why don't we do this over some food?" Yamato asked, Max nodded in agreement.

"Maxwell, but people call me Max."

"Yamato people call me Yamato."

"How original."

"Yeah."

They quickly got out of the dregs, Max started looking uncomfortable. They stoped at the Korean bar.

"So your Zakuro's best friend?"

"Yep, since I was 7 and she was 4."

"How did you guy meat?" Yamato needed to know a lot more about Zakuro then the other two; he needed to know how to get her to cooperate.

"Well it's a long story; you see Zaki and I were a team."

"Team?"

"I would create a distraction, and she would pick people's pockets, we made a descent living off of it. We met cause we both had to run away from some creepy guy who wanted to show us his lab. At the time, I was living in a box." Some how Max knew this guy meant no harm, so he was telling him a lot more then he needed to.

"You lived in a box?" Yamato said not believing the older teen.

"Well yeah, you see since there was an over flow of orphans after the Kyubi attack somebody had to get booted out, and since my mother was a prostitute and not a shinobi I was the one booted. That's how we became best friends because we worked so well together, splitting the take 50:50. I used the money to get food and she used it to get other stuff."

"Like tobacco?"

"No she didn't start smoking until she was 7, the year her father died."

Yamato didn't know her father had died, it said on her records that she had two parents. "Do you mind if I asked how he died?"

"Oh family curse killed him when he was 37. It was a suicide, on Zaki's birth day too. Her mother remarried a couple months later to Milton, her step dad." He spat the word Milton out like it was a disease.

"Oh" That explained a lot about the girl. "Is that the reason she never went to the Academy?"

"Her father's death? NO it wasn't, you see the only reason she went there in the first place cause it was in her dad's will. They used the life insurance to pay for it. She didn't go cause I was a very bad influence that told her not to go, and to do odd jobs around the dregs with me."

"Like Stealing?"

"Sometimes, sometimes we got to help Allie with the drunks at the Zoo: It's a bar in the dregs. We would kick em out and clean the puke and such. Sometimes we would help with other stiff." Max was tempted to say what the other stuff was, but it would say that Zakuro and himself worked for some gang bangers. Being a look out for drug deals would not bowed well on her record.

"Is there something, I don't know I could do to help her out…" Yamato asked, he was feeling like a real jackass, he could tell that Max wasn't telling all of zaki's story and Yamato knew why she was being so difficult.

"You want to know the truth?" Max sighed, taking out a ciggerette and lighting it. "Don't mention it, treat her like she was a regular girl whose family have been in the Ninja buissness for years. If you mention any of thing of her past of personal life she will walk out right away. And she probably wont talk to you or me ever again." Max said finishing the meal he ordered. He looked at his watch. "Look at the time I got to go." He got up and left the retaraunt.

Yamato was to busy in a deep thought to actually notice that Max had disappeared on him. The young chap had seemed anxious around him. Was it because he was a shinobi? Yamato didn't want to think about it to much, it might make his head hurt.

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**A.N. Hey guys long chapter right? ****Yeah I didn't know if i was going to continue this story cause of the lack of reviews, but the characters are too real for me to actually stop righting. I really love the OC's I made so far. They are the best in all my fics. So please Please comment I will comment back! I promise.**


	8. The morning

The next day Kaida woke up to her mother's soft coo's "Honey deer, its 6:00 time to get ready for training."

Kaida pulled there one sheet over her small head. There family shared one mattress in the other room of there apartment, they had about 3 tattered old blankets, but it didn't really matter, the others body heat usually kept them warm during the winter. "I don't wanna tell sensei I'm sleeping."

Her mother wouldn't take that as an answer, stripping the blanket from her child her voice turned stern. "Now my little dragon!" Kaida reluctantly got up and started to get her tooth brush and such, they used there kitchen sink to brush there teeth in, there bathroom didn't have a sink, just a toilet and shower.

"When you get home from training you are taking a shower!" Her mother added.

"But, But, But Maa I don't wanna take one. Yo hates them and the shampoo gets in my eyes, and the water is always too cold and, and."

"And nothing if you want to be a shinobi you will have to learn proper Hygiene!" Her mother barked.

"Well snickerdoodles!" Kaida stomped, she never won an argument with her mother.

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Keiji woke up from his grandmother's smooth nocks coming from the door. "Its time to get up dear." She whispered.

He got up with no complaints going to the bathroom and putting on the cold shower, he needed a nice cold shower. He had another one of those dreams about Hinabi again. Keiji blushed at the remembrance of the dream. He was glad she wasn't from a mind reading clan, she would have killed him from some of the thoughts that had passed through his head. Just calm yourself Keiji,

12345678910 He thought to himself. Counting was very nice.

Maybe that was one thing he liked about Hinabi, if anything happened she would take care of herself. She was the most fearsome konoichi ever! She would always be able to protect herself against him, just in case.

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His shower ended and he got ready. Training today would be hard he hoped, he wanted to be ready for the chunnin exams in may, that was 5 months away. And he needed to prove himself to everybody. His Grandfather was downstairs in the kitchen all ready, Hash browns eggs and bacon all ready laid out in front of him. Keiji's plate was all ready full.

"First day of training today?" his grandfather asked him. His grandfather hid himself behind the morning paper. Keiji couldn't make out his expression. He knew Grand pa was angry for the visit yesterday. He really hates people, shinobi especially. Which is funny cause he used to be one.

"Yes grandfather,"

"Your sensei…"

"Yes grandfather?"

"He's a curious fellow."

"How so sir?" Keiji asked, curious could mean a lot of things. Good and bad. But his father just buried himself in the sports section.

"God dam it the Packers lost again! Urgh, I'm telling you marie I'm sick of getting this news in the Monday paper, we got to get our radio fixed."

His grandmother tottered in the kitchen, "Well I'm sorry dear, but I can't find any one in town that actually has the equipment to fix it. One gentleman tried to sell me something called a T.V."

"Every bodies a nut job now a days." His grandfather mumble slamming down the paper.

"Time for you to leave dear, if you want to be early." His grandmother said, handing him a packed lunch. "Now kiss granny good bye." She told him tilting her head sideways for a peck on the cheek.

Keiji thanked god none of his old classmates where here, He gave her a quick peck. Taking the lunch and leaving the door.

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Yamato woke up at 4:30 couldn't sleep so much anticipation building up in him. He hoped today would run smoothly. He wanted to do some one on one training with Zaki, well he needed to anyway. Want was a whole other thing. Keiji he would use the training technique his grandfather told him. Kaida needed to train for speed.

Getting up and getting ready, he was ready for this. He was? He was! He was. Yes he is. Just because these kids entire future depend on his training. Just because if they screw up on a mission because he taught them wrong then they die it would be his fault. That if anything happens he was supposed to take responsibility for everything. In the end the shinobi was only as good as his teacher. And Yamato might be a good shinobi, but being a teacher is a whole different thing. Some people just don't have it in them. And Kaida is only 8 what if she dies on a mission before she reaches double digits! That won't ride on his conscious the rest of his life. It's not like there was way to much pressure building on him for him to think doesn't mean he had to panic right?

God how does Kakashi deal with this shit?

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Max nudged Zaki out of his bed. It was 6:30…IN THE MORNING! He can't believe he was actually getting up before noon, but he didn't want Zaki to blow this. She hit him over the head with a pillow muttered something and rolled around. The grey haired girl didn't even open her eyes to do it. "Zaki you got to get up. You have to go to training. Its all ready 6:30 AM you are going to be late."

"AM means its time to sleep. PM means its time to party. P for party, that's how it goes." She groaned.

"No AM means its time to awake, A as in Awake." Max replied.

"No A as in, look A bed I have to sleep." She retorted. Now clinging to the bed.

"Come on you have gotten at least what 3-4 hours in. I've only got 2. So you know you can be a little more chipper!" Max told her tugging off blankets.

"Well I need my 12 hours." That's it the blond haired teen thought to him self. He hoisted Zaki up bridal stile. She didn't budge at all she had fallen soundly asleep again. Dropping her in his small shower he turned the cold water on. She awoke right away. "FUCK FUCK FUCK!" she screamed.

"Its not that bad," he teased. She had settled on leaning on the wall of the shower. Her body was shaking from the ice cold shock.

"Its been 4 day's since Sara disappeared. I went last night to the usual places and they haven't seen her." That's why she was so upset about being woken up. Zaki liked to sleep in when her mother way away. It was just a thing of her he guessed. "Or at least, that's what they TOLD me." Zaki hugged her knees to her chest. Max sat down right by her not caring about the cold water. He wrapped an arm around her shaking body. "Tank seemed stranger then usual; he didn't make any of his usual threats. And well Jr. Well Jr. didn't even smirk when I talked to them."

"Its ok Zaki, I'm sure she just went to another dealer, you know how she was talking about the stuff being of crappy quality."

"Hn" The couple sat there letting the ice water hit there shaking bodies. "The mornings are a bitch." Zaki finally breathed.

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**I hope you like this chapter, I think I'm going to go back to shorter chapters and update more often. **

**So how did you like character development? Or at least personalities. There will be more action in the next one I promise! But I'm going to be trying different ways to do things experimenting a little, see which ones best for the…reader (I'm very angry I didn't have to make that a plural word!) **

**Oh and by the way, I live in the heart of packer land! If you have a problem with the Packers you have a problem with ME!**


	9. Worst sensei EVER!

Yomato was there a little early, ok very early cause; he didn't want to be late. If he didn't show up on time, they wouldn't stay, and if they didn't stay. They wouldn't take him seriously, if they don't take him seriously they won't think about what he taught them. So they wont know how to do missions, and then they'll die, and it will ALL be because he didn't show up on time!

The first to arrive was Keiji like usual gold eyes looking down and counting as he walked. A paper bagged lunch hanging at his side. "Hel-Hell-l-lo sensei" He said, still looking down.

"Well I'm going to go first Hokage on you." Yomato said, Did that sound lame? He wondered secretly to himself, Kakashi was so good at these kinds of things.

Keiji looked disturbed and backed away from Yamato, "Yo-You w-wan-want to go wooden on me sir?" Yamato had to think for a second…

"O GOD NO NOT LIKE THAT!" Shit now the kids think I'm a fuking pedophile! "I meant I'm going to use the same training techniques that the first Hokage used on your grandfather," Keiji still looked confused. "Has your grandfather ever talked to you about his training days?"

"No-No sir, He does-ddoesn't talk about it-it. He hasn't gone in-into town since the thir-thir-thirds death."

"Oh" Well shit, "um I'm going to cage you in with some of my techniques then introduce you to your trigger and you have to control yourself."

"Oh-oh-ok" Keiji said. Yamato put the cage up and Keiji got in. Before sealing it up Yamato added.

"You'll be allowed to train with the others when you can hold yourself in for 2 hours."

Keiji gulped, his grand mother was going to be angry with him. He was going to out grow all his shirts.

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Kaida came running about 2 minuets before the meeting time. "I'm sorry I'm almost late."

"Its ok Kaida," HE smiled.

"My mommy made me take a shower!" She whined.

"Oh ok, well we are going to introduce your speed, so we have to make your legs stronger." Yamato explained the little girl's eyes were wide; she didn't have Yo with her. "Where is Yo?"

Kaida rolled her eyes at him, "Well you see, Yo is VERY lazy in the morning, he didn't want to train with me. So he stayed at home."

"Oh Ok, I want you to go over there and do 100 perfect kicks." Yamato said, he was going to take a leaf from gai's book with her.

"What if I lose track of the kicks?" She asked worried.

What did Lee do if he lost track? Yamato thought. Lee just didn't lose track. "I advise you don't lose track." Was all Yamato said. He wasn't a very good sensei.

"Ok." 15 minuets went by, no sign of Zaki. Finally what seemed like forever she skated towards them.

"Your 15 minuets late!" He scolded.

"I'm on time the rest of you are early." She scoffed.

Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere Yamato moved onto a different subjects. "I want to see how you can use your elemental powers." She took out a cigarette.

"What do you mean Elemental powers? Did I just get transported to sailor moon or something?" She lights the cigarette.

"Like there are 5 elements, wind, water, fire, earth, and electricity. Do you know how to control any of them?" He asked, maybe she didn't know about her clan.

"Like lighting stuff on fire with chakra like that kind of stuff?"

"Yes." He stated, Zaki took a long puff of cigarette. She rolled her eyes at him.

"I just did that." She snapped her fingers together, causing the thumb to light on fire. "All I do is take about a not even a dab of chakra convert it between my fingers then with the snap it ignites it. I use it to light my fags."

Yamato was impressed, just by that little explanation he could get that her chakra control was amazing. "Where did you get that Idea?"

"The Uchiha, I saw them light somebody's house on fire with there technique when I was little, I just kind of modify it a little." She let the fire go out. Yamato didn't know how to respond to that.

"So what else can you do? Just show me if you have any other nifty jutsu's you use." He wanted to be friendly he really did!

Zaki thought for a while her long grey hair floating in the wind. Then she started rubbing her hands together. Then stopped suddenly, his student got closer to him and touched him. A volt of electricity like one of those prank hand shake things, But it was a lot more electricity. Not enough to hurt somebody though, just an unpleasant shock. "Oh and I can make whoopi cushions out of any set of pillow that releases some air if you sit on it."

Ok so she can deal with Electricity, Fire and Wind that's more then a lot of Jounin. "Can you do anything with water?" He asked. She looked down, for the first time she seemed interested in something.

Looking around the clearing Zakuro headed for a puddle, her hair swaying on her side. She scooped a handful of water out of the puddle. Forming it into 5 tiny balls she started making them go in circles in between her hands. Water he could mark of the list too. The fact that she had better chakra control then most other people his age, this girl wasn't wasting a hint of chakra. He hated to admit it, but Naruto would be able to learn something from her.

"I can't do anything with earth. Sorry." Zaki tried to look like she didn't care, but her voice seemed eager to please. Yamato smiled to himself, she was coming out of her hard shell if not just a little bit.

Keiji sat in the cage Sensei had built for him, breathing slowly, he couldn't see what was going on outside, and there was only one spot to sit. The rest was covered with spikes, and the middle spike kept dripping blood on his head. He could feel the warm trickle and it made him want to get more. In a slow painful way. But instead he steadied himself. Come on he rooted himself on. He didn't want to be too behind the others. He did not want another academy incident, where he had to stay and have help with the reading section. Everyone else was weeks a head of him. He didn't want to be the slow one any more. He wanted to change himself. He had to keep up.

After a while he couldn't take any more, and everything went red.

Yamato stopped talking to Zaki a while about controlling the earth element, his Genjutsu on Keiji had just got busted down hard. He was going insane just like his grandfather had warned Yamato. His Cage was getting ripped too he could sense the destruction out side. "Keiji, remember" He called in there. "Control yourself."

But Keiji didn't hear him, Keiji just wanted out. He ripped at the edging of the cage ripping off one of the spikes but the wood came back. He needed to get out of here, he didn't like it. His inner beast wanted out. He let out a roar.

Yamato was concentrating fully on the cage now, there was no more chakra from it then Keiji had but it was very malevolent. To his surprise a horrible roar could be heard from the cage. Kaida stopped kicking the post, Zaki walked right beside him.

"Yamato, is that Keiji in there?" She asked, sounding worried.

"Yes." This was taking most of his concentration now. It was not as bad as controlling the fox, but the necklace controlled the fox's chakra to make it easier. He didn't have a necklace that would control Keiji's.

"What's happening to him?" Kaida said running closer to the cage. "We have to go help him!"

"STAY BACK KAIDA!" he warned her putting more chakra into this.

"But he's in there and he might be…"

"I SAID stay back. If you can not follow an order there is no use for being a shinobi."

"Kaida come here." Zaki ordered the younger girl. Kaida went but very reluctantly. Yamato grey haired student looked him right in the eye. " how long do you think you can hold out on him ?" Her tone was from one professional to another.

"I can hold out longer then him, you two keep training, and I want you two to spar." Yamato wanted to seem controlled and put together. Zakuro sized him up, this was kind of embarrassing, but it could be worse. The storm inside lasted another 30 minuets. But then ended abruptly. He waited five more minuets before checking on Keiji. OH shit!

Keiji couldn't feel anything in his body, he didn't remember anything just red and trying to destroy. Then he suddenly he stopped, and started feeling so much intense pain he doubled over, before instead of going red it went black.

Maybe Yamato should have made the cage with no spikes. But that's what his grandfather had told him! The boy was bleeding everywhere there was a pool of blood he would die if it didn't stop soon. FUCK it was only the first day.

"KEIJI, WHATS WRONG WITH HIM, HE'S HE'S BLEEDING!!" Screamed Kaida.

"DON'T worry I'm bringing him to the hospital, training has ended for the day. And with speed he didn't know he had he started for the hospital Keiji in hand.

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Sakura was the one in the emergency room that day when she saw Keiji he eyes got wide. "what the HELL?"

"Don't ask questions he needs help." Glaring at Yamato Sakura nodded.

"I need 4 assistance here stat!" She yelled and within seconds Keiji was getting dragged to the hospital operating room.

I'm going to have a fuck load of paper work to do.

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Later after knowing that Keiji would be OK, Yamato went to the bar, where he knew most of his friends would be meeting. There was Iruka, Kakashi, Asuma, Anko, Kurenie, and Gai.

"What is wrong with you?!" Asked Anko eyeing him up, Yamato sat down between her and Kakashi.

With a deep breath started. "Within an hour of training one of my students was nearly bleeding to death."

"Oh, how?" Asuma asked.

Sighing another deep sigh He told the truth. "Because I'm the worst sensei EVER!!" Then in punishment he banged his head on the bar.

Kakashi slapped him on the back to cheer him up. "BARTENDER! We are going to need a lot more Sake over here." Looking at Yamato again he continued. "Like at least 5 bottles."


	10. Want some cookies?

The next morning Yamato woke up his head aching. What, what happened? Oh yeah, he almost killed one of his students, the sensei decided to go back to bed. "YAMATO WAKE UP!!! I WANT TO TALK TO YOU!!" What was that?

High pitched, annoying, door sounds like its going to brake down, noooooooo Yamato groaned, it was Sakura. Yamato wanted to die, here in his bed, or at least until the teenager went away. "LET ME IN OR I'M GOING TO BRAKE IN!!" She threatened, in retaliation; Yamato buried his head under his pillow. The best offense was a good defense. "OK I WARNED YOU!" He heard a crash; maybe if he just laid here she wouldn't do anything. Who was he kidding?

"YAMATO GET UP NOW!" The annoying voice was closer crap, she was at the door way.

"Urgh go away, I have a head ache." He lied lamely well he did have a head ache. He just wasn't telling her what from.

"YOU HAVE A HANG OVER THAT'S WHAT YOU HAVE!" God dam it does she have to shout!

"Let me die in peace."

"NO YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DIE FROM THE ALCOHAL, YOUR GOING TO DIE FROM MY FIST IF YOU DON'T EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT BOY RIGHT NOW!"

Yamato sat up. "Better? Will you stop shouting?" He asked putting his hand oh his temple, throbbing lots of throbbing.

She put on the fake smile she gives Sai and continues "oh ok Senpa what happened to Keiji."

"Let me get some coffee and I'll explain, but not before then!" he hated women.

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Zaki woke up to familure throbbing in her head, hang over suck. But she had become accustomed to that over the years. Stretching she felt a familial presence next to her, it was Max. Getting on top of him she started to shake him.

Max eyes went open a little, "Rise and Shine fuck Tard, its time for a brand new fucking day." She always tried to wake people up in a cheerful way.

Max pushed off his friend Zaki from on top of him, They were getting to big to wake each other up like that. He thought to himself in shame. "What you want for breakfast, I have cigarettes and alcohol and um eggs."

"I'll take a fag."

"Good cause I'm running out of alcohol and eggs."

"You think I'll be able to drop bye the zoo and get some free coffee?" Zaki asked yawning trudging to the kitchen.

"I don't know you made Allie pretty angry. She'll prolly kick you out." Max said, "What time is it?"

"11:00"

"Oh good we can steel the neighbors paper,"

"I still can't believe you can get up at like noon and still have time to steal the old mans paper. I mean does he ever notice?" She was rummaging through his closet for cloths.

"Nope. What do you have to do today?"

"Nothing I have nothing to do, Training Is out cause one of my team mates had a bad accident yesterday, Going to the Zoo is prolly out, I was thinking of checking for Sara again."

"You should check the soup kitchen, she sometimes goes there, when she is flustered and such."

"Checked there yesterday after practice they haven't seen her."

"You think you should get the authorities evolved?" Max asked suddenly Sara had never been gone for over 5 day's before this wasn't like her one bit. She might have been the world's crappiest mother to Zaki, but through her drug addiction and depression she still cared about her daughter.

"Fuck no, I just started being a shinobi this would totally fuck it up, I think I'll just suck it up to that God mother or mine Allie and ask her to put her guys on it." Zaki relented, that was right. Allie was Zaki's god mother; it was weird to think that Allie and Zaki's dad used to be best friends.

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Before Yamato knew it, he was rushed to the Hokage's office. He was so fucked, Tsunada was going to kill him slowly. She was sitting behind her desk brown eyes glaring. Yamato braced himself for the yelling to start. "You'll be happy to know that Keiji is doing fine."

"Oh ok," Where was the angry fist in his face?

"What the hell happened?" Oh no the pain wouldn't be physical Sighing he started to explain.

After the story Tsunada's expression remained neutral. "You took advice from Mayuri?" She finally stated.

"Yes Lady Hokage, this is how the First hokage taught him." He was totally fucked.

"You used a first Hokage teaching technique?!" She was getting angrier by the second.

"Yes."

That was apparently the last straw she slammed her fist on the desk. "My grandfather was a good man but his teaching was one during a war, he didn't have time to teach the kids properly! And really what did you think would happen Yamato!"

Yamato felt like a fish his face agape, what did he think would happen to Keiji if he put him in a spiky cage? God was he dumb! "Well it worked for, Mayuri," What a lame excuses.

"Mayuri hates the world and isn't what you really call well adjusted. And I'm surprised the old fucker is still alive! He's older then the third! Mayuri is an old bitter shinobi, never take advice from him again!"

"Hokage-sama!" Shizune stepped in.

"What is it Shizune?"

"The two Jounin you sent to tell Keiji's family about him came back in critical condition."

Tsunada gave big sigh, "What did they do to piss Mayuri off?"

"One of them keeps saying to everybody don't step on the pansies, he keeps repeating it over and over again."

"Next time any body had to deal with that old man it will be me or Jiriya got it?"

"Hai Hokage-Sama."

"Yamato you may go."

Yamato stood up, well he knew not to piss Keiji's grandpa off. "Yes maam"

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Keiji was lying on his hospital bed, how could he ever face any of them again? He was a monster, they saw him lose control for real this time. He was going to be a danger to everybody. Will he have to live like his grandfather? Away from anybody that might make him mad?

A small knock came from the door, Keiji couldn't see anybody. "Is-s-s An-anybody there?" He asked, a small red headed girl peaked her head in. It was Kaida, how could she even look at him?

"May we come in?" She asked, Yo must be with her.

"S-Su-sure." He said, she carried a thing of bake good in her hands.

"Mommie and I made them for you last night to make you feel better." handing him the box of cookies the little girl giggeled. "I had to stop Yo from eating it all!" Keiji gladly accepted the gift.

"You-you shoul-dn-shouldn't have." Keiji said, Kaida sat up on the bed. Her blue eyes were wide with disbelief.

"Of course I should have! You're my team mate! And we are supposed to stick together, no MATTER WHAT!"

"Bu-but I'm- I –I can't con-controll myself, I might hurt you…I'm not a very good shinobi." A tiny fist hit him in the face.

"SHUT UP! You just need to work harder that's all, you can control yourself I'll help you do it!" Keiji didn't say anything. "I PROMISE!"

"You-you'll help me?" He asked her, eyeing up the little girl on his lap. She put her left hand on her heart and her right hand up.

"Cross my heart, Hope you die, stick a needle in Kakashi's good eye! I promise to help you control yourself Keiji, You're my team mate. And team mates don't give up on each other." Her smile was infectious. Keiji smiled right back on her.

"Do you want some Cookies?" He asked at last, holding up the box.

"I THOUGHT YOU NEVER ASK!" She said stuffing her fist full of the sugar incrusted cookies.

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"Are you sure?" Asked Zaki, she was speaking to a hospital employee.

"There are no records of her being checked in here, NO Nariko Sara anywhere."

"Are you positive?" The girl asked again. Zaki had an intense feeling to light one up. But not in front of a some what law abiding citizen."

"What she look like again?" The attendant asked.

"She's a bout 5'7'', short ear length brown hair. Skinny, hazel eyes like mine. You'll see track marks up her arm." Zaki repeated herself again. The Attendant checked one more time.

"I'm sorry but I can't find your…" Crap the long pause Zaki thought to herself, He was sizing her up, seeing if he needed to call social services.

"Sister." She lied; Sara looked young enough to be her sister. "My parents are worried sick about her, they don't want to look here cause they don't want to assume the worst." This lie usually worked well.

"Do you want me to check the morgues for any Jane Doe fitting that description?"

Sighing heartily Zaki closed her eyes, she hated doing this. "Yes please." The attendant smiled at her, she sized him up for a while. He had short blond hare and brown eyes, utterly not very interesting. The only reason she knew she could trust him cause she saw him gambling a couple hundred at the Zoo. He told the authorities about her she told them about his little tab. He knew to keep this hush hush.

"Turn back up here in two day's time if you haven't found her." He told her leaving her side. When he was finally gone she started for the fag. Lighting it up, god that felt good.

"Zaki?" A voice asked from besides her, she looked up oh god no it was her sensei.

"Yes Yamato?" She asked.

"You here to visit Keiji?" HE asked, oh crap the grey haired girl had totally forgotten about what happened yesterday.

"Yes, of course, just stopping for a cigarette. They don't let you smoke in there for some reason." Good cover she thought to herself taking another long drag. "Well I think we should go in don't you?"

Yamato smiled at her, "I like to see you bonding with your team mates." Yamato was glowing, this was good ,bonding was good. It made training the team all that much more interesting. And he all ready knew that Keiji had the utmost respect for Zaki. He only hopped the little escapade yesterday didn't scare off Kaida. The two started walking.

"Well its not that hard, the two of them are really good people." Small talk sucked Yamato thought to him. IT sucked balls.

"Yes they do, I can feel it that we are going to make a great team, we just need to learn how to trust each other a little bit more." Did that sound lame; he wanted to hint at Zaki that she could trust him. Her hazel eyes gave him a are you kidding me look. They turned into Keiji's hotel room, to his surprise Kaida was all ready there.

"HELLO SENSEI, HAVE A COOKIE!" She said through a stuffed face. Yamato laughed and grabbed a cookie out of the box.

"I didn't know you were going to be here Kaida." He said.

"Of course I had to bring him cookies!!" She said rolling her eyes at Yamato. "Hey Zaki, Want a cookie?" Zaki shook her head no. Kaida's eyes got big with sorrow.

"Ok I'll take a cookie." The smoker relented taking a cookie.

Yamato sat down on the counter like he'd seen Kakashi do to Naruto, but he accidentally almost sat on the plant. Quickly getting up he heard Kaida laugh. "You can be really stupid sometimes Sensei! Right Zaki?" She asked the older good, her blue eyes shining at a sad hazel.

"Right," Zaki said, she leaned on the wall, looking cool. How her and Kakashi managed Yamato didn't know. Maybe it was the grey hair that did the trick.

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Adara stopped and checked herself in the mirror, as of late her feelings for her old class mate Keiji had gotten to be a lot more then platonic. She had actually always loved Keiji. Not like in the stupid fan girl sort of way, Keiji didn't have any fan girls thank god. But Adara liked him in that hopeless best friend sort of way. She took the basket full of bake goods into the hospital. She was hopping nobody would be there, and she would enter and she would look like that angel of mercy with food. But who was she kidding; Keiji was in love with…Hinabi. That bitch, the girl who had laughed out loud and called him a loser when she heard about him going into a hospital.

Taking a full breath before entering the hotel room Adara was disappointed, he had guest all ready. "H-hi Ad-adara." He said. Adara scanned the room, On the window sill was a man with brown hair and brown eyes. Must be Keiji's new Sensei. ON the bed was Keiji his perfect purple hair in place, and gold eyes piercing into her soul as he smiled at her. FUCK! Then a little girl about 6 maybe was on his lap a girl with red hair and big blue eyes. Her curly red hiar contained in a poney tail that didn't really trap all of it. Then leaning on the wall was a girl about her age.

A very pretty girl with long grey hair, and alarmingly hazel eyes looked at her. Even though she was in incredibly baggy clothing you still could see the faint lines of maturity growing on her. God if Hanabi doesn't snatch him up, then this pretty girl sure will. She looked so confident and cool leaning on that wall. Adara felt like a dunce.

Yamato looked at the girl who had just walked in, she had a black fitting t shirt on and baggy khaki pants, her hair was in a high pony tail that jutted from her head like a pinapple. Her face was extremely feminine. She must be Shikimaru's little sister, She looked a lot more like her mom then father. She smiled slyly at Keiji.

"Hey Keiji!" She said, "Mom wanted me to bring you some rolls cause she knew you loved them so much." Lie Adara yelled at herself, she had made them special for Keiji.

"Tha-thankyou Adara" There was a silence between them.

"Are you going to introduce me to your friends?" She asked, prompting him. Keiji struggled for a bit, Adara smiled to herself, he was so socially inept. It was so cute.

"So-Sorry, This is Yamato sensei." He stuttered pointing to the man on the wall, Why was Keiji stuttering. HE never stuttered around her. Well other people were around. "This is Kaida. My team mate."

"HI DO YOU WANT A COOKIE!" The little girl asked pushing a box full of crumbs in her face. Not wanting to be rude Adara took a big crumb piece.

"Thank you."

"and this is Zaki." He stated pointing to the girl leaning on the wall. She still looked so cool. "And every one this is Adara." He told them.

"Hey" She said. Another silence fell on them, she could feel the girl Zaki's eyes staring at her. That flunky who thought she was too good for school that was this girl. She wanted to turn around and ask her what the hell she was looking at but didn't.

"Well I guess I should be going its getting late." Adara stated lamely.

"I'm going to be heading out too." Zaki said following her. When they were in the hall way Adara turned around.

"Do you want something?" She asked the grey haired girl. The other girl scoffed still keeping her cool.

"Mrs. Goody toe shoe's has a temper doesn't she?" Zakuro teased.

"Look." Adara wanted to be on good terms with this, girl "Zaki I don't want to get in a fight, just tell me what you want."

"Nothing Mrs. Goody toe shoes god," Adara fumed on the inside. "I just like making people mad."

Adara was going to come back with a good one but somebody interrupted. "Adara," IT was her brother.

She turned around and put on a fake smile. "Hi Shikimaru."

"What are you doing here." He asked her, Shikimaru was so protective sometimes.

"I was visiting Keiji,"

"Oh yeah, well make sure your home by 7:00 or dad will be mad again." He told her.

"I told you that wasn't my fault! Neji wanted us to practice through dinner. To show us how exhausted a person can be on a mission." Adara told her brother what seemed like a millionth time.

"Call him Neji-sensei, its disrespectful to call him anything else." Shikimaru said. Adara rolled her eyes at her older brother. A voice interrupted the lecture.

"Shikimaru? You coming?" It was that sand girl Temari who always hung out with Shikimaru. Adara actually liked her, but she would never tell Shikimaru that.

"I got to go, but don't be late today ok?" He said.

"Ok, hope you have fun on your date!" She said, this made her brother blush.

"Its not a date."

"what ever." Adara finished. Shikimaru was walking away and when him and tamari was side by side Zaki yelled something at them.

"HOPE YOU DON'T GET GANUREA!" Zaki yelled at Adara's brother. Then quickly pulled Adara around a corner so Shikimaru didn't see them. Adara was shocked at what Zaki had just said.

The girl smiled a wolfish smile at Adara, Adara was just shocked. Finally she said. "I've been wanting to say that to him for a very long time." She said, Zaki grinned again.

"I know." Holding out her hand, "I'm Nariko Zakuro by the way if you didn't know."

Adara took the hand for a shake. "Nara Adara," This was going to be a start of a beautiful friendship.


	11. The past comes back to haunt you

Allie and Zaki were at the bar. Being early in the morning they were the only patrons. The bar itself was still disheveled from the fight last night, the question when you go to the zoo is not if the was going to be a fight. Its how many fights would there be? Zaki leaned on a bar stool fussing with her coffee.

"I haven't seen her round here Zaki. You know I make sure to tell them to do drug business of my property. I don't want nothing to do with the stuff. But if any of Jr's gang shows up I'll question them. How long has she been gone?" Allie asked leaning on the bar.

"About a week now, I'm not that worried I guess. When I was 9 she disappeared for about a month but came back just fine. It's just a matter of time till she shows up. I just want to be extra careful." Zaki said taking a swig of coffee.

"Ok…" a silence fell between them. "So how's this Shinobi thing going for yah?"

Zaki shrugged, "fine I guess, we've only trained as a whole team once, but then another member went total psycho and ended up in the hospital. He's actually being released today."

"Oh honey it just gets better from there," Allie said sarcastically. Zaki plopped down her coffee.

"How the hell would you know? I mean did you even know a shinobi?"

Allie shook her finger at Zaki, "Girl don't take that tone with me, I was raised during the Uchiha reign. I know all about shinobi."

Zaki rolled her eyes crossing her arms. "I mean Descent REAL shinobi. Before I went to the academy the only Shinobi I knew was Itachi, and he's the best thing that has ever happens to the dregs!"

"Itachi?! He didn't do it for the dregs he did it for Konoha in general. And anyway I knew a shinobi better then any you have ever meat. For gods sakes! I married the man."

"You were married to a shinobi?"

"Yeah, we ran away and eloped with each other when we were 15. The marriage didn't last 3 years. The last time I saw him he was running out the door being chased by a frying pan I just thrown at him" Allie gave a bigger then usual sigh, "There was A LOT of reasons we broke up, I don't really want to talk about it."

"Classifying Shinobi by your crap ex is a hypocritical as somebody saying that all people from the dregs are crack addicts." Zaki explained allie gave her a look. Counting on her finbers Zaki continued. "Well there's me, max, you, the person who runs the local food shelter, her husband. Oh and there daughter who's on my shinobi team by the way. That makes 6 people."

"Yeah and when I meat 6 descent shinobi I'll agree with you." Allie put in.

"What time is it anyway?" Zaki asked.

"11:30."

"Got to go meet my team mate coming out of the hospital."

"You are coming to the Viagra concert tonight?" Allie asked Viagra was Max's band.

"I don't know."

"Well you might have to cause Sodomy just got fucked up on crack last night so you might need to take his place in guitar." Allie said non challently getting the cleaning supplies out. "And if your not doing anything too important with your team mates I want you back here by 8:30 for damage control!"

Zaki got her skate board and started for the door, "K I'll show up at 10:30!"

"8:30!" Screamed Allie after her.

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"IT took you forever to recover!" Whined Kaida as she walked along the streets with Keiji, Yamato and Zaki where with her too. Yo had to stay home today he said he felt sick.

"Where we going Yamato?" Zaki asked, Yamato said he was going to treat them to a restaurant.

"Ramen" He replied, he wanted to treat them to food, but with the way Kaida ate, this was the only thing he could afford. Hopefully they'll be able to meat one of the rookie nine teams, so they can see what they can do with a little or a lot of hard work. More then likely Naruto would at least be there. When they reached there destination Yamato was very pleased to see team 7.

"I've never had Ramen before! I hope its filling, I'm am sooo Hungary!!" she whined.

"Yo-you should control your stomach," Keiji Smiled, The two of them had formed a strong friendship. Which was ironic in a way, he was extremely tall, and isn't very smart he doesn't physically change but he turns into some sort of monster. Kaida was very short, and was very smart. She physically changes into one could say a monster but she keeps her mental ability. They were uh, what did they call it in that college class he took? Dramatic foil, when two characters contrast each other. Or maybe a little more like the characters from Mice and Men, he didn't know.

Zaki skated along the group, just a little behind everybody else. Again ironic in its own way. She seemed separate from the two, not like they were excluding her, no. She was just behind them so she could always keep an eye on those two. She might not have wanted to admit it, but she was becoming the leader of the group. Both of her other team mates looked up to her. She wasn't even the strongest; she had talent no doubt about that. But in a one on one fight between her and either of her team mates. The team mates would win.

But to be a leader you didn't have to be the strongest, you didn't have to be the smartest, and you had to have the ability to think on your feet. To take the punches and think of the best out come. At the Academy they teach you how to follow and take orders, you have to learn leadership by yourself.

"What's Ramen like?"

"Its noodles that are flavored, and taste good. You've never had it before?"

"No mommy says eating out makes people spoiled and they don't appreciate the real food cause you don't have to prepare it!"

"I-I h-hav-have on-only had Ramen once, it was at Adara's birthday party" Keiji said.

"Which Ramen stand are we going to?" Zaki suddenly asked stopping to stare at him.

"Ichiruk Ramen why?" He asked, Zaki looked worried .

"Ahh can we go somewhere else?" Zaki asked suddenly not looking at Yamato.

"Why?"

"The owners…they don't really like me," Zaki continued. "When I was younger I did a couple Dine and Dash's and the owner caught me, he said he'd cut of my hand if he saw me by his stand."

"What's a Dine and Dash?" Asked Kaida,

Keiji eye brows were furrowed at Zaki, "It's when you eat at a restaurant but never pay them." His town was disappointing; Zaki shot a glare at him.

"It's what your do when you're young and hungry and have to find food by yourself." She defended.

"It's wrong no matter what the circumstances." Keiji was taking the highroad.

"I'm sure he won't recognize you, and anyway I'm paying." Yamato stepped in. Well there goes his perfect group theory, dam.

When they got to the Ramen stand Kakashi and his team were there. Yamato smiled waving at them. "You guys I want you to meet this team. There an older Gennin team, there still working together!"

"OH my that is soo COOL! Ha Yo is going to be sooo mad he missed this. I can totally rub it in his face." Kaida said clapping her hands together. This was going to be interesting. A beautiful idea just popped into his head.

"Hey Kakashi! He said sitting next to his Senpai. "Want to do a switch in the checks?"

"What?" Kakashi asked.

"Well I know since your injuries and all you have been hurting in the cash area and I know Naruto can eat like a horse." Yamato lied. In truth Naruto would be cheaper to pay for then Kaida.

"Why thanks Yamato, that's really nice of you," Kakashi said smiling, oh that un suspecting fool.

"Oh guys this is Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura and Sai." Yamato introduced them pointing to the perspective person.

"This is my team, Kaida."

"HI!!" She waved very franticly.

"Keiji" he just smiled at them, looking a little bit shy. He was just as tall as Yamato now. Making him taller then Naruto and Sai if Kakashi didn't have his hair on end he would be about the same height.

"And Zakuro." She gave a kirt nod.

"Do they serve coffee here?" She asked messaging her temple.

"Isn't it a little late for coffee?" Asked Sai.

"Well considering this is a family establishment and they don't serve Sake then no it's not too late for coffee." Zaki replied thanking Ayame for the mug.

There was a silence and then Sai gave a fake smile. "OHHH I GET IT that's what the book I'm reading calls sarcasm!" Sai said as proudly as he can holding out his self help book. Zaki looked at him for a minuet probably trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic of not.

"Yamato sensei how many ramen can I have?" Asked Kaida looking at her bowl.

Yamato looked at Kakashi who shrugged, "As many as she can eat."

"As many as you want" Yamato told his student. Ha ha Kakashi! He thought to himself, this will make up for all the times you stiffed me with the check!!

"S-s-so ha-have y-you guys al-always been a team?" Keiji stuttered. Yamato was hoping this conversation wouldn't pop up. Team 7 fell into an awkward silence.

Sai being a blundered head responded, "nope I just joined the team, I'm taking the place of Uchiha Sasuke."

Zaki started laughing, Yamato sensed a fight coming on, and Naruto's blue eyes shot daggers at her. "What so funny?"

"You mean you were team mates with the Uchiha who ran of to get ass raped by the pedophile?" She was laughing hysterically. Team 7 didn't know how to respond to that. Naruto looked out raged, Sakura confused and Sai sat there smiling.

"It's a bit more complicated then that," Kakashi said. The only one of the original 7 who looked like he was going to keep control of his anger.

Zakuro laughing took out a cigarette and lit it. She gave off a big cloud of smoke which she blew in Naruto's direction. Naruto was trying to keep his anger in. "So how well did you know the Uchiha?" She was tredding on this ice, and knew it.

"Better then anyone else." Naruto rushed.

"Not good enough to keep him here though?"

"He had a goal he needed to reach; he felt that Konoha was in his way." Naruto said.

This caused Zaki to snort, "You mean kill his brother? Ha that'll be the day! And probably after then he'll start blaming Konoha for having him kill his brother!" She said still half chuckling to herself.

"SHUT UP!" Naruto barked.

Zaki was smiling in pure enjoyment, she liked these words games. Pushing peoples buttons was something she liked to do. Yamato glared at her, would she never stop. She was going to say something more when Keiji stopped her. " Zakuro I believe they don't want to talk about their former team mate." It was the first sentence Yamato had heard that didn't have a slight stutter to it. The tone was low and more of a warning, Zaki pursed her lips at him but said nothing else.

A silence fell between them. Kaida ordered another Ramen. It was her 13th Yamato had been keeping count. OOOO he was a genius.

"Have you guys had a mission yet?" Sakura asked.

"No, um training accident prolonged the weight. We should be getting a D ranked one tomorrow." Yamato said.

"YEAH A MISSION!" Kaida said. "This ramen is good! Why do you look so down Naruto?" Naruto had a scowl on his face. "DON'T LOOK DOWN NARUTO! IT COULD BE WORSE; YOU COULD FALL OF YOUR BIKE ONTO A CONVERYOR BELT LINED WITH TITANIUM SPIKES! THEN IT WOULD DROP YOU INTO A VAT OF LEMONADE, AND THEN YOU ARE GOING TO GET AN INFECTION BECAUSE THE PERSON SQUEEZING THE LEMONADE SNEEZED IN IT. THEN YOU WOULD BE TURNED INTO THE LARGEST PIECE OF BEEF JERKY. AND HAVE HIYEENA'S LAUGH AT YOU, WHILE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS BEATS YOU WITH A FREAKISHLY LARGE CANDY CANE COVERED WITH GIANT FIRE ANTS WHO HAVE JUST FINISHED FASTING FOR A DECADE!" Silence followed that little spell.

"You have a very active imagination." Sai said, looking at her in it could only be aw.

Kaida gave a big smile, "I try."

"Tha-that was in-interesting."

"I am awed and inspired by that Kaida." Zaki said. Putting her ashes in sai's ramen.

"Hello my eternal rival!" a voice rang out from behind him. It was Gai.

"What is that?" Zaki asked looking at Gai in horror.

"That is Might Gai," Kakashi told her.

"Hello Naruto, Sakura and Sai!" Gai said, "Yamato who are these youthful blossoms?"

"Hey Gai, these are my students, Keiji, Kaida And Zakuro."

When Gai looked at Zaki a slight frown creased his face. "Aren't you a little young to be smoking."

"Aren't you a little old to be wearing spandex?" She asked in retaliation. Gai pursed his lips again, but smiled non the less.

"I love a person with a good sense of humor!" Gai laughed it off.

"ZAKURO THERE YOU ARE!" A woman's voice said from behind them. Yamato looked aroung, holy crap that girl was hot. She was short and had curves that most men could only dream about. Her hair was brown and her eyes a dangerous chocolate. She couldn't have been more then 22. God she was hot.

"Yeah what you want?" Zaki asked rolling her eyes.

"I need your help at the Zoo." She told the grey haired girl.

"Ok Allie gosh, Sorry Yamato got to go help out my godmother here."

Kaida's eyes lit up, "Like a fairy godmother from the stories."

"Well the adjective that describes her starts with an F but it's defiantly NOT fairy." Zaki explained, the women suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Allie stopped dead in her tracks.

"you," She whispered at Gai. Glaring at him with more hate then Yamato thought possible. He looked at Gai who was glaring right back.

"You." He said right back. "I didn't know they allowed trash like you on this side of town."

"Well just look at you Gai, there standards can't get any lower." She shot back.

"You're still a heartless bitch aren't you?" Both of there tones barely higher then a whisper.

Allie put her hand over her heart. "Ouch how will I ever be able to deal with that horrible blow to the heart."

"You can go fuck yourself with it for all I care." Gai said, Yamato looked shocked did Gai just swear.

"Well at least it would be better then fucking you." Ouch. That was a low blow.

"Oh don't worry about that, I wouldn't touch your ass again with a 70 foot pole."

"You are defiantly overestimating the size Gai. It's more like 7 cm."

"Oh what's the matter can't find a frying pan to through at me?" He asked icily, he had never seen Gai like this.

"Lets leave Zaki; I don't want you to be in the presence of these hypocrites it might rub of on you." Allie told her god daughter, Zaki obeyed obediently, apparently she had never seen her god mother like this either. They both turned their back on the group. Allie then looked around, "You know what Gai? Green looks stupid on you." And with that she left.

Tension hung in the air for a couple seconds after that. "GAI SENSEI GAI SENSEI!" Lee screamed running up totally oblivious of what just happened.

"You are late for our training session Gai sensei!" Lee said to him. Gai gave an exasperated sigh.

In a dangerously low tone "There wont be a training session tonight Lee." Lee smiled vanished quickly. He knew when something was wrong with his sensei.

"Who was that women Gai?" Kakashi asked slowly.

"That Kakashi…" He breathed in, Gai was so angry it radiated from him. "Was my ex wife."

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**Sorry it took so long! I'm expecting reviews! :P this was extremely hard chapter to write. And now I have to do homework! :'(**


	12. Mothers

"What the hell was that about Allie?" Zaki said when they were out of ear shot.

"That my dear was my Ex Husband!"

"What?! How many Shinobi have you slept with you said you used to be married to Itachi!" Zaki stopped dead in her tracks.

Giving an exhausted sigh Allie explained, "You heard me wrong. Itachi was just a kid I remember hanging around. I grew up with that Gai that…MAN we were child hood sweet hearts. He is, he is, he is the most, the most, unreliable selfish idiotic, imbecilic selfish horrible, vain dumb unreliable selfish ugly jackass I have ever, EVER known! Did I mention he was selfish and unreliable?" Zaki's godmothers asked in a tizzy, Zaki had never seen her that way before.

"Yes twice with unreliable and 4 times for selfish if you count vain as a synonym for selfish." Zaki explained.

"Well you know if I knew more words to describe how HORRIBLE that man is. I would! I would call him satin but that would be a compliment!"

"Oh wow he sounds horrible," Zaki commented sarcastically getting a cigarette out of her pocket.

"Zaki! I'm serious I do NOT want you hanging around that man, he is bad news. I mean you think your mother is bad with broken promises, that man, well you can't trust him with anything!" Allie was yelling at her now.

"God I get it, I barely got a hello in before you two had your little scene!" Zaki defended herself. "I probably will never see him again." Allie kept her hands on her hips staring at her god child. "And If I do I'll spit on him and call him names!" Zaki said crossing her heart. "Promise."

"Come on lets get going I think I have a lead on your mother, she checked into a rehab across town."

"Really?" Zaki rolled her eyes; this has not been the first time Sara played this stunt.

"Yeah, oh and what ever you do, DO NOT MENTIONS GAI TO YOUR MOTHER!" Allie commanded.

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Yamato had told the other two to wait for him at the training grounds; he had to talk to Gai. "What the hell Gai?" Yamato said. "You were married to THAT WOMAN! Did you have a brain aneurism or something, because seriously why did you let that go?" Gai gave him the scariest stare he could have ever imagined.

"Oh yes she looks very touchable! But belie me IT IS NOT WORTH IT! Not worth it what so ever, she is the most traitorous bitch I have ever come in contact with. She will suck your soul dry!" Gai exclaimed.

"How do, I mean how did you two even meat?" Kakashi asked every one at the bar was baffled. Gai, Married what the hell?!

"We grew up together, my best friend was in love with her best friend then we met, I thought it was love. So when we were 15 we ran off and eloped, by age 18 she was screaming at me and throwing a frying pan at my head and telling me to get out. But that back fired on her, I just discovered my youthfulness."

Silence followed that comment, nobody knew what to say.

"She lit all my clothing on fire, and I had to change for the Jounin test the next day. And all I had was the money in my pocket and all I could afford was the Green jumpsuit of love and the legwarmers of truth. I became a Jounin that day" Gai described, Kakashi looked like he wanted to burst out laughing but controlled himself.

"So you started wearing jumpsuits because they were the only thing you could afford at the time of the divorce?" the grey haired nin asked.

"Well by the time the whole thing was over the outfit had become my trademark and I couldn't just abandoned my trade mark could I? Did you know that bitch wanted alimony of my Jounin checks?!" Gai asked his chest heaving with indignation.

"Well I got to go train with my team…" Yamato said trying to get out of this very awkward conversation. "c ya guys later…"

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"Allie we are heading toward my house." Zaki said, not in the way of the rehab.

"Yeah she is packing up her stuff, so she can stay there for a while," Allie gave her god daughter a side long look. "Maybe she is serious this time."

"That what she said last time! This time won't be any different." The girl snapped taking a long drag of her cigarette. "God fuckin fags or horrible, Max has been getting that really cheep brand" She commented throwing it to the ground.

Zaki's heart did a loop and then started sinking. It was her mother, she was happy to see her, right? Her mother was a waif of a woman, thanks to her drug habit. Her eyes were the same color hazel as Zaki's. But her's were dead, again thanks to the drugs. Her hair was a chestnut browns a couple shade's darker then Allie's mouse brown hair and about a foot longer. She wore a black long sleeve shirt with a v neck and skinny jeans. Extremely gaunt looking. She was sweating a little. Gulping she smiled at her daughter. "Hi darling."

"Hey Sara, so what place you heading too this time?" Zaki asked her trying to sound hopeful failing miserably.

Twitching and shaking her head side to side Sara scratched at her left arm ferociously "Now Honey, Do-don't look at me, like that. I try my hardest really I do, but I, but it's, but I,…ITS going to be different this time honey. I-I- promise."

Zaki didn't look at her mother, "Yeah I know mom, I don't doubt you. What do-do you want me to do for you. Do you need groceries, money, clothes?" Zaki came closer to her mother to take her arms like a mother would a child.

Giving a nervous giggle Sara looked back at Allie. "Can you gi-give me some along time wi-with my daughter?" Allie stood there not glaring at Sara but giving her a blank stare. "GOD FUCK YOU BITCH JUST CAUSE YOU AND ZAC WERE BEST FRIENDS DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO RUN MY LIFE YOU FUCKIN WHORE!" Sara screamed, Zaki rushed toward her mother to calm her down.

"There, there now Sara, Allie just wanted to help," Cooed Zaki holding onto her mother. Sara shot her god mother a look of pure daggers, Allie shrugged and turned around. "now what is it you want to talk to me about?" Zaki asked her mother.

"Well-I was just going to tell you how, how better its going to be after –after all this is over. I promise, Your father,"

"That man is NOT my father!" Zaki interrupted losing her caring tone.

"WELL my husband, Milton, who has just been clothing us and feeding us and protecting us for the past 7 years, has said that he might get a promotion at work, you know that factory job. And-and once I get out of the center, we-we-we will have enough money to get out of here, Doesn't that sound nice?' Sara said fiddling with her sleeve. Zaki didn't respond she had heard that before too many times. "I know, I know I haven't been a good mother to you, I mean you…"

"You're practically all grown up, living on your own. Being a shinobi, your, your father would be so proud of you. Being a shinobi, it's the ONLY ticket out of this hell hole." Sara continued grabbing her daughter by the arms and shaking her. "Don't give up you can get out of here! No No we will get out of here, together and we can be the family we always wanted. Isn't that nice dear?"

"Yes, its great Sara now is that all you want us to talk about we should be getting to sign you in to the rehab."

"Oh silly me, thinking about all this stuff I forgot to tell you I wanted to give you something. It's a photo album of when I was young. IT has all of us, when we were I don't know 17ish. It's been such a long time. But yes there are a lot of pictures of your father; I just want to give you this before. Well before I go into the rehab." She handed her a small booklet. Different Polaroid's sticking out from here and there. Zaki stared at her mother.

"I thought, you had burned everything of his…" Zaki was dumbfounded not wanting to touch it, just in case it might fall in half. It looked so old and tattered fragile.

"Well I thought so too, but I found this. In the addict," Sara was holding it like it was an angel. And to Zaki it was.

"There are some, some embarrassing photos of all of us. Some where were not fully clothed you can, throw those away." Zaki's mother told her. The grey haired girl didn't know what to do.

"Thanks,"

"Well I got to go now honey. I'm meeting somebody from the rehab center in a few minuets. They told me to go alone." Zaki didn't look convinced. She was clutching the photo album to her chest. Sara hugged her daughter close. "I love you." She then turned around and started walking away.

Zaki looked down at the photo album in her hand. "I love you too…mom" she whispered.

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Kaida snuggled with Yo in her families' bed. Her father was still working in the living room. Her mother was brushing her blue hair gently besides the bed. "Are you asleep yet darling?" She asked her daughter.

"No. Mommy could you tell me, a story?" She asked her mother sitting up. She wore one of her father's old shirts as a night gown. Kaida had Yo in her arms. "I want to here about the daimyo's daughter and the wondering minstrel."

"Oh you have heard that story hundreds of times." Her mother sighed putting the brush down on the bed.

"but I really like the story!"

"Yes please tell it." A voice interrupted from behind her. Kin turned around and smiled a small red haired man with glasses Her husband Lido.

"Honey shouldn't you be working, according to the hokage that is an extremely important text." His wife scolded him.

"Ah for this story my love, I would stop the world to hear." The red head told his wife sitting next to her taking her hand lovingly and kissing it. "Now please tell it."

Kin gave Lido a loving smile. Kaida looked at her parents; their eyes were burning with something so tender. Her eyes couldn't comprehend it. "Well, about 10 years ago their lived a daimyo's daughter who lived in Suna. She wasn't extremely pretty."

"She was extremely beautiful," Lido interrupted his wife who was blushing a little.

"I'm telling the story here honey." Kin scolded. "Well she had been engaged to another boy, his name was Baki (**1**). He was a perfectly nice boy, always wanting the best for the village he lived in. He was also a very talented Shinobi. The Daimyo's daughter was engaged to him. Despite trying though she could not fall in love with him. It wasn't anything on his part, he tried and so did she. She tried to tell her parents, but they assured her that love grows over time."

"The marriage was not the only reason she was unhappy," Lido interjected again.

"No, no it wasn't, the Daimyo's daughter felt that she could do more for her people then just be the wife of a Jounin. She wanted to go down to the slums and actually help them, but her parents said it was un lady like." Kaida smiled at her parents, her favorite part was coming up. "The wedding of Baki and the princess was coming nearer, people were all over. So the princess decided to sneak out and get some air. While she was out in the crowd she stopped to watch a wondering minstrel on the street. Now the Minstrel was extremely talented he sang, dance played the fiddle like nothing else was there. The bard impressed the Daimyo's daughter so much she decided to ask him to play at her wedding. After the crowd had thin and he was packing up she decided to talk to him."

"She was enamored with his dashingly good looks."

Kin shook her head and laughed, "No she was extremely disappointed that he was so short. But any way, she asked him to lunch to talk about the wedding and see if he would stick around. They didn't talk about the wedding at all they talked about life and things they liked and disliked. How they felt. And by the end of the day, the daimyo's daughter was head over heals for the minstrel."

"I can assure you the Minstrel felt the same exact way about the princess." Kaida's father added smiling at his wife.

"Well in the week following the princess went to go see the minstrel every singly day, and every singly day the more she fell in love with him. By the day before the wedding the Daimyo's daughter had accepted her feelings for the poor pauper. That night when she had resigned herself to the fate of marrying a perfectly nice respectable man but to all her trying she could not love him. She loved her minstrel who sang to her. Well that night just as she was going to bed she heard tapping on her window. She looked down and her heart missed a beat. It was her Minstrel, her love, her life. TO her surprised he confessed his love to her and asked her to come off and eloped, and with out giving it a second thought she said yes. And so the wandering Minstrel and Daimyo's daughter lived Happily ever after." Kaida's mother concluded.

Kaida looked at her father who had sighed heavily, "Well as happy as the minstrel could provide." He commented, Her mother reached out and took his shoulders.

"The daimyo's daughter couldn't be happier." She said to him before kissing him lightly. "Now Kaida its time to go to bed." Her mother said turning and tucking her in.

"Good night mommy! Good night Daddy!" Kaida yawned before going to bed.

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Keiji washed the dishes that night with his grandmother. His grandpa was out on the porch. "Grandmother, may I ask you something?"

"Yes of course, what is it you want to know?"

Keiji fumbled with the towel in his hand. "Well, how come you or grandpa never talks about my father? I mean you talk about my mother. But I mean who is my father?" His grandmother stopped what she was doing.

"Well, that's because we don't know who your father is. You see your mother went on a mission for a long, long time. They were going to declare her dead but she came just in time, pregnant with you. She never talked about it; she just said that it had been consensual. That's all, why so curious?"

"Well-well, I don't know I was just thinking, because you know I get the hair color from her. But I don't know she had green eyes, I have well yellow ones. She looked delicate I'm like a tree trunk. I just want to know more about everything I guess…"

"Well that's enough of that." His grandfather said. Giving him the warning look. Keiji looked down at the plate in his hand.

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**Hey i hope you know that i want reviews!!! seriously if your a person that has this story on alert or something i would like a review, and i want a review espesially if you are a new reader!!!! **

**1) oh and if you didn't know this Baki is the sand sib sensei **

**Oh and can you please please tell me what you think of each charector? Please?**


	13. Hippy Shit

A month went by with training going amazingly. Yamato smiled at everybody, how could they have grown in everything so fast? He smiled they were on a mission today, they had to get Fu-fu out of the tree, without Fu-Fu being harmed because Fu-Fu was one of the elder's cats. Kaida had tried climbing up the tree to get the cat but it would scratch and hiss then climb up on a less sturdy branch.

"Why can't we just cut the tree down?" Zaki asked, smoking a cigarette.

"Because we don't want the cat to be harmed, especially this one, it's on of the elders." Yamato said.

"Well I mean the elders are rich they can buy them selves another cat." Zaki said, "I say we just kill the cat, I mean it's damn ugly." That was true it was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. Zaki then looked around "Where's Keiji?"

Yamato looked around for the other male on the team he was just here a couple minuets ago. "PLEASE FU-FU COMES DOWN!!" Kaida whined to the cat.

"So are we ever going to get like a real mission that pays real money?" Zaki asked.

"I've put in to the hokage for an escort mission. It will prolly take like four to 7 days they usually give easy ones to gennins." Yamato answered.

"Finally because if I have to get another cat out of a tree, I'm strangling it, especially if it's Fu-Fu again."

"Kaida's the one doing all the work here."

"PLEASE FU-FU COME DOWN I'LL BE NICE!" Kaida screamed again the cat just went higher in the tree.

"Yeah but we have to listen to her." Zaki explained, this made Yamato chuckle a bit. He had to admit Zaki was becoming his favorite, he hated to admit it but every sensei had a favorite. Anko said her favorite was Kristi the only girl on her team, Neji's was his cousin. Every body had favorites. Don't judge!

"He-He-hey every body!" Keiji yelled as he came walking up. A little brown bag in his hand. "I-I go-got an idea to ge-get the cat down." He took out a bottle of white liquid and spilled it on the ground. The cat leaped down to the liquid. "I-I got some half and half from the grocery store."

"NICE IDEA KEIJI!" Kaida said as she started to pet Fu-Fu who was rubbing himself affectionately against Keji.

"I was kind of hoping the cat would die." Zaki stated. Keiji picked him up and they started away. Kaida wanted to pick him up but the cat screeched at her.

"I've always been more of a dog person." Kaida commented.

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They were at the ice cream pallor to celebrate the mission completed. After going to a couple different places they have all decided ice cream was the best place to celebrate. It was Farley cheap, and the owner didn't growl at Zaki every time she ordered something. Kaida got a triple scoop waffle cone of elephant tracks, Malt chocolate and cookies and cream. Keiji got a single of strawberry. Zaki usually didn't get anything. Yamato was happy with his banana split.

Suddenly some dark brunette hair came flying past; look it's our 4th unofficial member. It was kind of disgusting the blatant lake of training Neji was giving Adara. Yeah Yamato had his favorites, but seriously it was ridicules how Neji ignored the other two on his team. "Did you not have training again today?" He asked

"Yeah apparently Neji wanted to teach Hinabi a secret technique so Lee and I weren't allowed to watch. But Lee's dad was teaching him another technique any way. And well yeah so I have nothing to do." Adara said.

"What about your dad or your brother." Yamato asked

"Well my brother is um out in Suna. So yeah nobody to teach me." She shrugged. "I'll have the fudge Sunday" Adara told the waiter.

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At the end of the meal everybody was going there own separate ways. Adara ran up to Zaki who was skating away.

"Zaki could I talk to you?" Adara asked the grey haired girl.

"Sure. What you need?"

"Well I know were not that close but I'm hoisting a sleep over this weekend would you like to come over? Unless you know it's not cool for you or what ever." Adara stumbled, she always felt so childish around Zaki, even though she liked the girl a lot.

"Like a sleep over sleep over, staying up all night and eating snacks and you know laughing and stuff?" Zaki asked.

"Yeah, it's to celebrate my birthday; Hinabi, Choni and Kristi are coming over."

"Well um happy birth day! Is Keiji not coming over??" Zaki asked, she looked unease at the prospect of the sleep over.

"Oh well it's a sleep over and my dad isn't to keen on the whole guys and girls thing. He thinks if we let Keiji sleep over we would all have like sex with him or something," Adara said a little rushed a blush creeping over her face. "I live at 1418 Seneca court." Adara said. "See you Friday!" Zakuro was stunned, Seneca court that's were all the rich people lived. Would she even be allowed there? Zakuro skated toward Keiji's house.

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Zakuro knew where Keiji lived because she followed him home one day. She would ask him what Adara would want for a birthday present. Getting close to the small gate Adara stopped the little cottage looked so simple and peaceful. It had a little wooden fence surrounding it and a very beautiful garden. His grandfather wasn't on his rocker good. Sneaking through the gate would be easy. As she past through the little gate Zakuro was jolted out of her thoughts. "What are you doing here?" An extremely gruff voice asked, looking around Zaki found the source it was Keiji's grandfather.

"I'm sorry I was looking for Keiji, is he here?" Zaki asked trying to be respectful; the old man scared the shit out of her. He stood up and Zaki took one big gulp. He had to be at least 3 feet taller then her.

"And who are you?" The old man asked.

"Zaki his team mate, one of our friends our mutual friends is having a party and I wanted to ask him what I should get her."

"Nara Adara is a sweet girl I like her, he is making her present right now." Keiji's grandfather said. "You can go into my house, but if you track mud in…there will be severe consequences."

"Yes sir." Zaki said.

Keiji was concentrating on the necklace he was making Adara, She was a Leo and her favorite stone was red tiger's eye. But He had made her red tiger's eye earrings and necklace's before he wanted to make her something different. She was turning 14 after all. He was making it with gold tiger's eye. Small round cylinder like gold tiger eye beads, and then in the very middle he got a blue tiger's eye heart. It would probably hang just below her collar bone. A nock sounded on his door. "Come in grand mother."

"Do I really nock that softly?" A recognizable voice said.

"ZAKI?! Wh-wh-what are you do-do-doing hehere?" Keiji stumbled trying not to nock any of the beads of his desk.

"Sorry, I just wanted to talk to you about Adara, like what she would want as a gift." Zaki said looking around and delecatley sitting on his bed. Was something wrong with her? "She asked me to her sleep over and I don't know what to get her."

Keiji stared at the grey haired girl she seemed out of her element a bit. "We-well she likes the color red, but not fire engine red like a fall red the color of maple leaves when they fall down. Jewel colors I think they call them. Her favorite flower is the jasmine cause of there fragrant smell. But don't get her flowers she thinks there too much work. She liked caramel but don't say caramel cause she call's it carmel. She doesn't have a favorite musician or band cause she can't decide. Don't get her anything that has to do with strategic board games. But if you have to get her games get her a question game like 20 questions or something. Oh and she loves playing trivia games about anything, she can memorize like every thing and history was her favorite subject at the academy. Adara's favorite season is winter cause she says it brings out the beauty in every little thing. Sometimes I think she likes making her parents upset. Too see how far she can push them, she is actually quite confrontational, and she doesn't get along well with her father. And her life's goal is to get out of Shikimaru shadow, figuratively speaking of course " Keiji summarized.

"Wow, you two know a lot about each other don't you?" Zaki asked looking at her.

"We-Well we-we-we are best friends. Sh-she was the only one at the academy to-to try to help me she cares ab-about other people then herself. She's my best friend." Keiji argued.

"What are you making her anyway?"

"A necklace, it doesn't have her favorite stone but it does have different types of her favorite stone." Keiji explained.

"You make jewelry? I mean no offense you don't seem like the type of guy to do that."

"we-well my grandfather doesn't seem like an obsessive gardener but he is." Keiji defended.

"Sorry, but what should I get her?" Zaki.

"Get her something that means something to you." Keiji offered. "Like I noticed you like music, or skating. Teach her how to skateboard."

"Hnn, you have a nice house. I got to get going." Zaki said as she walked out the door. That was odd Keiji thought to him self.

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Kaida was eating out with her parents; they were going on a picnic. It was a nice sunny day after all. Her father had brought his fiddle with him. "Daddy? Who do you think is better with the fiddle you or Moses?" She was referring to her cousin.

"Umm well dear I am a bit rusty, so I think she could beat me, but If I was in my prime I would whoop her A.." Kin shot Lido a dirty look. "Behind, I would whoop her behind."

"Hn your funny daddy, is Moses coming back? I miss her. She promised to teach me how to play the piccolo. She is so smart, like Zaki. But her and Zaki wouldn't get along at all. Cause Zaki doesn't get along good with anybody. Except me! And Keiji, Keiji is really really tall and sweet. And I promised him that I would help him out because sometimes he loses control." Kaida told her parents smiling wail stuffing food down her throat.

"Kaida deer eat slower." Her mother scolded. She started whispering to her husband. "What do you mean they decided to dock your pay?"

"Well I don't know just some Anbu came up to me and tried to get what I was working on. But I told them I couldn't it was for the eyes of the Hokage and the Hokage alone. I think they were Danzou's people. The next thing I know is that I'm getting a report that they are docking my pay. "

"Root why would they be interested in an old flickien text? I mean it doesn't make sense." Kin tried to keep her voice low. Kaida was trying to listen.

"The text itself doesn't make sense; I think they are not giving me all of it. Something is up everybody was edgy when they handed it to me."

"But if it was that important wouldn't they have shinobi decipher the text?"

"Exactly, the last time I had to decipher something this important for the Hokage is when the fourth asked me to decipher the death god jutsu he used on the Kyuubi. He at least gave me a reason saying that if Shinobi got a hold of it they wouldn't let him do it. But this is something totally different. I think I'm over my head hear darling." Lido told his wife, Kin gave him a passionate kiss.

"I'm here for you, no matter what. For better or for worse." She told her husband.

"I'm getting my pay check tomorrow I can help you guys, I heard that the evil land lady is coming around and I can help I can I'm working I want to help." Kaida said.

"NO!" Both her parents practically shouted.

"Honey you save your money for you. Your father and I will think of something you have nothing to worry about." Kin told her daughter. Kaida gave her parents a pout.

"Why don't I play some fiddle for you little dragon" Her father offered picking the instrument up in his hand. Kaida nodded and snuggled into her mothers arm. Her father started playing a soft winding tune and not too shortly Kaida was asleep.

"Let's get her home." Kin said. Her and her husband got everything together.

"I think I'm over my head here darling." Lido told his wife.

"I'm sure we will find a way out of it, we are only just citizens after all the government can't want that much from us."

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It was Friday night and Zaki skated her way up to Seneca court. She hoped what she wasn't going to end up embarrassing herself. Knocking on the door, a very pretty older women who looked just like Adara opened it. "Hello can I help you."

"Ugh yeah um, my name is uh Zaki I'm uh here for Adara's birthday."

"Zaki? Is that short for Zakuro?" Her mother asked.

"Yeah, but call me Zaki."

"Zakuro, what a…uncommon name." The lady said Zaki rolled her eyes. This is why people started calling her Zaki, cause having a name that means Palma granite is just plain embarrassing. "Adara is up stairs."

"Thanks," She was about to go up the stair well when Adara's mother shot her a glare.

"WE take off our shoes in this house young lady."

"Oh, ugh Sorry."

"Zaki! Your late the others are all ready here." Adara told her from the stairwell. Zakuro followed her up to her room. She tried not to marvel at the nice clean house. When she entered the room she was shocked to see 3 girls all ready there, two giggling the other giving an amused smile. "Everyone this is Zaki."

The one with the amused smiled on had white orb like eyes, and chestnut colored hair. Her forehead protector covered her forehead; she had a boyish like face. She wore a somewhat traditional kimono. "This is Hyuuga Hinabi." Adara said.

The next one to be pointed at was a very chubby girl with two pigtails in her hair. Violet spirals painted across her extremely pudgy cheeks. Her eyes were a chocolate brown. In her own sense was extremely pretty. "This is Akamachi Choni, she's a year younger then us. She will graduate the Academy next year."

"Hopefully," Choni added and they all gave a nervous giggle.

The last to be pointed at was a girl who had Thick platinum blond hair swaying at the side of her head. She had forest green eyes and her mouth was open because she was laughing at something. She had a shape and away about her it tolled that she had all ready accepted the full of puberty. "And last but certainly not least is Yamagochi Kristi." She got up and shook Zaki's hand.

"Hi, so you're Zaki, I've heard so much about you." Zaki gave Adara a look who just shrugged. "Oh not from Adara, from my team mates, is it true your dad is the leads the mob?"

"No, my dad doesn't do anything. Who are your team mates?"

"Parker Pop and Michel Geiger they are two idiots, but I love'em to death. So who are your team mates again?" Kristi said in one breath.

How could that girl talk so fast? "Um Kaida and Keiji,"

"Keiji?" Kristi said giving Adara a knowing look which she returned with a blush. "Well I used to go to the academy with hi8m. Kind of slow but really, really nice there is really nothing wrong with him. Did you know he was last in the exam? I think that's rather sad, but they always average up the teams so that means you must have come on top, you or Kaida I don't know who she is. Is it true that she is only 8 years old? Personally I don't think 8 years old is an appropriate age for a shinobi. But hey I'm not in charge." Kristi rushed.

"Well isn't that a good thing." Zaki said. "And you should tell your team mates to keep their filthy noses out of other people's business."

An awkward silence fell, "Well let's get started with the games." Adara cut in.

A half and hour later.

"Truth or dare?" Zaki asked Hinabi. Within 5 minuets of the game Zaki has established herself as the asker.

"Truth." In response Zaki blew a raspberry. "What?" Hinabi snapped.

"All you guys say is truth, truth, truth you guys never pick any dares."

"Fine then Dare." Hinabi said.

"We will start off with something easy." Zaki took out her pack of cigarettes giving one to Hinabi. "Smoke that entire cigarette."

The other girl's ooed as Hinabi popped the fag in her mouth diligently. "I don't have a light."

"Here yah go precious." Zaki said lighting up her thumb Hinabi took one big drag of the fag and started chocking violently. Popping one into her mouth, "It's not that bad once you get used to it."

"Ok so now its your turn." Kristi said.

"Dare." Zaki said.

"You only do dares, you have to change it up a little too." Hinabi coughed.

"Ok, truth." Zaki spat, glaring at Hinabi in disgust.

"What does your dad really do?"

Taking one long drag Zaki looked at the fag in fain amusement. Using the carpet under the bed as an ash tray she thought about answering the question. "You have to answer it's a truth." Kristi ordered.

"Sighing heavily Zaki dawdled with the flames in her hand. "Well ya see my dad's dead, died of an overdose when I was 6."

A hushed silence fell on the gaggle of girls. "Oh Zaki," Choni started in pity.

"You can stop right there, this was 8 years ago I'm over it." Zaki stated taking the fag from the improvised ash tray and giving it another good suck. "So Adara truth or dare?"

"Dare." Adara giggled nervously. Zaki gave her a wolfish smile. Bringing out the duffle bag she had brought. "I dare you, no all of you, to paint the town red." She threw a can of spray pain toward Adara, who caught it in surprise. "Blue." Throwing it to Hinabi. "Green" This one was to Kristi. "And hey we even have a purple." Giving the can to Choni.

"You do know vandalizing is a crime?" Asked Hinabi looking at Zaki, in mild self righteousness.

"Only if you get caught, are you scared Hyuuga?" Zaki shot back looking at her.

Glaring at Zaki Hinabi rolled her eyes. "Lets get this over with."

"So everybody in?" Zaki asked.

"Yes" Was the general reply.

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The next morning Shikato stared at a side of the Hokage tower. Some Chunnin were cleaning it up, reading out loud what it said. "Peace, Love, Honor, Prosperity and Sake? What kind of hippy shit is that?"

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**I know it focused a lot on Zaki! I'm sorry! But yeah she is my fav character to write so yeah, next chapter will focus on Keiji I swear! **


	14. The talk

Zaki was sitting at the bar in the Zoo, sipping some coffee one morning. She was helping Allie clean up the mess. The Zoo had got raided last night, for what even Allie didn't know. "Fuck that government of our Zaki! Fuck it to hell, I pay my taxes and all that, I even pay Din to make sure the Zoo DOESN'T get raided! But NOOOOOOO can't even rely on those stupid Dins any more!" Allie said. Picking up a table. Din's was slang for dirty shinobi.

"Well think about it this way, you can get raided every now and then by the actual government, or you can go back to the Uchiha days. You know the days where they would eat you out of house and home and then refused to pay. And what about that little protection tax? You know the one where you had to pay rent every month for you bar even though you own the land rights to it. Oh plus you had to pay property tax to the actual government. I think you can handle a couple raids." Zaki told her putting out her cigarette.

"Hn, Well since your getting into this Shinobi thing, can't you just I don't know make the government go away?" Allie suggested, she then received a glare from Zaki.

"I aint becoming no Din. If I'm going to be a shinobi I'll be a faithful straight lace kind, you know. Like Yamato" the grey haired girls voice was serious. "And plus I don't think I'm ever going to get that far up there." Allie lifted her eye brows. "I mean those ranks are like…Chunnin at the least. And I have no want or desire to be a Chunnin; I'm perfectly happy where I am right now. Getting cats out of trees and helping old lady's clean house. Nothing challenging or time constricting."

"Well then your pay check is going to suck." Allie.

"Hn"

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"You think your kids going to be ready for the Chunnin Exams?" Kakashi asked Yamato one day.

"Well we have gone on 20 D rank mission and only one C rank and the C rank was only because the dogs we had to feed were as big as akamaru and as mean as Sakura on a bad day." Yamato explained to his Senpai "And we have to go on at least one B rank mission to even be considered."

"Well you can have the B rank mission Team 7 just got assigned it. And personally I want to train Naruto. Its just escorting a couple of Daimyo's kids to the summer palace." Kakashi said at last, Yamato gave a small sigh. That is so Kakashi only wants to talk to him to see if Yamato would do something for him. What a bitch.

"Sure that sounds great, but you'll have to run it by The Hokage yourself."

"Well you see…" Kakashi started, Yamato just rolled his eyes.

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Kin was going crazy. "What do you mean you wont be back until Thursday?" She nearly yelled at her daughter. Kaida rolled her eyes at her mother.

"Mom, I'm a shinobi now, I HAVE responsibilities," Kaida informed, though she meant to sound like an adult. She sounded extremely childish.

"But I thought they…they didn't give missions that went out of the country to Gennin's. I would have never let you take that test if I new this was going to happen" Her mother worried ringing her hands.

"Mommie its no big deal gosh, you act as though I'll die or something, Sensei says the most dangerous thing on the mission will be trying to keep the client from complaining."

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Adara was walking with Keiji in the park. She looked up at her tall crush. He had always been taller then her. She looked up at his purple hair and sighed, how could he be so beautiful?

"What?" He asked her. Adara hid the blush that wanted to show up on her face.

"Oh nothing, I was just thinking about how long you were going to be away for." LAME she yelled at herself in her head.

Keiji bent down so their eyes were looking straight at each others. Adara really had to work hard not to blush. Puberty hit this girl hard and it just made her feel more towards her child hood crush. In the movies the lead actress would throw her arms around him and start kissing him. But this wasn't the movies and Adara just turned 14. How could his eyes be so yellow, they are so intoxicating? That was a good word for them right? Well she would look it up later. "You know I'm only going to be gone for a week"

"Yeah I know, its just It's a B ranked mission those are like, big time. I mean Neji sensei has talked about getting one for our team. So we could enter the Chunnin exams. And I know if I enter the chunnin exams, my dad will expect me to become a chunnin."

"You should stop comparing yourself to Shikimaru, you two are different, I bet there a hundreds of things you are good at that he sucks at." Keiji offered, he started climbing the biggest tree in the park. It's where the two usually did there cloud watching. Adara loved watching clouds, but UN like Shikimaru she wanted to be up there with the clouds. Not just down below watching.

"Easy for you to say you don't have siblings." Adara countered back walking up the tree just using chakra. Keiji gave a big humph and landed on their branch shaking it slightly. Adara joined him, "now tell me what's been up with you?"

Keiji looked down, "making your present." He muttered. Adara smiled.

"So what is it?" She asked, thinking of the beautiful things she had gotten and treasured from Keiji. She still had the crown of daisies he made her when they first met at the academy. That had to be her favorite things he had gotten her just because it was the first thing. Keiji slipped her a box. That the Nara girl took.

Adara was speechless at the necklace, it was so beautiful, and the earth tones of the little beads made the big blue heart stand out more. "I-I" She didn't know what to say, She looked up at her best friend. His beautiful yellow eyes that contrasted with his purple hair, how could she go on like this? Just pretending to be friends when she wanted so much more out of the relationship could she tell him? Adara gave Keiji one good look and stopped something was wrong. "What's wrong?" She asked coming out more hard then wanting it to sound.

"I-I well its nothing, this is your birth day time, kind of. It should be about you." Keiji dodged, Adara pulled on his sleeve. "It's my parents; I finally got grandma to tell me a little bit about my father before granda interrupted."

"And?" Adara asked hurriedly, Keiji's paternity had always been a great discussion between the two.

"She didn't know who he was. She just knew that my mother left on a mission not pregnant and came back pregnant."

Adara fell a little; a mission pregnancy could have so many implications, none of them good. "Would it be on the mission report?" She asked more to herself then to Keiji.

"I don't know, I guess it would be, but she was on a top secret mission, probably Anbu. Those records aren't accessible to the public." Keiji conceded. Adara fell a little, how could they get those records? How the hell?

An idea hit Adara, "ZAKI!" She said aloud.

"Zaki?"

"Yes, yes Zaki, ok so when we were spray painting on the Hokage tower, and we were talking about how not to get caught. Apparently Zaki new the exact schedule for the guards and how to distract them and such she knew a lot, I would bet that she knows how to get into the record room." Adara said violently pulling on Keiji and making the limb shake.

"You were spray painting?! You were the ones to do that?" Keiji asked.

Adara shushed him with her hands, "NOT the point at the moment Keiji! Come on don't you want to learn about your dad?" She was all ready down the tree before Keiji could reply.

"We don't even know if she will help us!" Keiji screamed after his best friend.

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"Sure I'll help you guys break into a government building!" Zaki agreed they were all waiting for Yamato and Kaida who were out doing laps together. "Sounds fun, idiotic and dangerous but fun!"

"So do we wait until tonight?" Keiji asked.

"No. we do it as soon as possible, because if we do get caught it looks more innocent. Think about it, if we were under a gen jutsu the person would have us do it in the middle of the night. But they wouldn't know that the securities at top secret buildings are double during the night. If we do it during the day, it makes us look like incompetent Gennin and we get a little slap on the wrist. Plus we can easily move into big crowds if they are running for us. Both of you know how to do a transformation Jutsu right? Use it if we have to go into a crowd, but if they are chasing you into an ally or something just give up." Zaki explained, Keiji wondered how she knew all this.

"What about the seal's on the cabinets?" Asked Adara, Keiji was looking around hoping nobody was listening.

"Well that will be a problem, I don't know those seals I know how to get around the guards just fine, but seals are going to be a bitch? If we can't get the seal by the 3rd try we skedaddle and forget about it for at least a year." Zaki said. "Don't look so worried Keiji, this will be fun."

Keiji bent his head down low, "You two do realize if we get caught we could be thrown in jail."

"That's what makes this fun!" Zaki told him slapping the boy's back. Adara gave a nervous chuckle.

"If we have to do this as soon as possible, then how are we going to ditch the teacher and the kid?" Adara asked. A silence fell on the group.

Zaki gave a wolfish smile, "I have an idea, but we are going to have to bring Kaida into this."

"No problem, she is our team mate, and probably more competent then either of us." Keiji said.

Zaki started laughing then stopped. "Oh my god, it's true."

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"Hey you guys!" Kaida said outside the ice cream shop. She and yamato were sweating.

"Hey, how was your run?" Zaki asked. Kaida beamed and Yamato huffed. He had started running with the little one. Originally he wanted to run as a whole team, but Keiji was fast enough. And Well Zaki glared at him and stuck a cigarette in her mouth. So he ended up running just with Kaida, which was a treat in it self. She viewed everything like it was new and fresh; she never cast a judge mental eye, just looked and laughed. Her spirit was so up lifting. Between Zaki's overbearing pessimism, Kaida's overwhelming optimism and Keiji's stiffening silence, Yamato got a pretty good dose of reality a day.

"Fun we got to see the new flowers come out of the ground!" Kaida told them. "Urgh can we stop chit chatting I have to go pee." She said her little face turning as red as her hair.

"Come on kid lets go together." Zaki said leaning her head toward the bathroom.

"Ok" She said taking Zaki's head as they both went to bathroom.

"So Keiji, Adara how are you?" yamato asked.

"I'm fine Mr. Yamato Keiji just gave me my birthday gift. He made it himself." Adara said getting out a small box.

"Oh don't show him that Adara." Keiji said, his cheeks getting a little flushed.

"Why not?" Adara asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Just don't ok?" Keiji told her. Adara starred at him for a couple of seconds, she was perfecting her mothers glare.

"Hey Um you don't mind if we boys go to bathroom do you Adara?" Yamato asked, taking Keiji by the arm and pulling him away. When they were out of ear shot yamato gave Keiji what he hoped was a fatherly look. "We should talk about…girls," Keiji looked terrified, he slapped his hands to his head.

"I KNOW about that all ready Sensei!!" Keiji said.

"Oh, well then, how far have you gotten, with a girl I mean?" Yamato asked.

"I haven't ever; um I haven't ever kissed a girl. I know about that kind of stuff cause" Keiji's deep voice was getting higher. "Adara and I found shikimaru's pent house magazine when we were ten, we read a couple article and yeah I'm uh never going to yeah forget that." Keiji was bright red. "Please don't continue sensei."

Yamato was just as bright red at his student. It figures Shikimaru would have a pent house magazine, "Oh ok, so uh I don't have to warn you and Adara about safe, stuff."

Keiji looked confused, "Adara and I? What are you talking about?"

"Aren't you two a couple?" Yamato asked. Keiji looked like a deer caught in head lights.

"I see Adara as a little sister, nothing else. Just like I view Kaida or Zaki. I would never think inappropriate thoughts about her." Keiji said his face now grave.

"Oh…" Yamato had to think for a second "let's uh just go back to the table."

"OK…"

When they got back, the girls were all there. And so were their Sunday's. Yamato sat down and smiled, this is good he thought to himself. Keiji doesn't need the talk, Zaki could probably give the talk better then he could.

"Yamato sensei? Can I ask you something?" Kaida asked.

"Yeah sure," Yamato picked up his glass of water, Kaida was years away from having to give her the talk.

"Well," the little girl looked down, then in a really loud voice said. "WHAT'S SEX?"


	15. I don't get it

"Ok I think that question is one I don't need to be here for the answer… so I'm going to leave." Adara said scooting out of the both.

"I agree with Nara that question is kind of personal I'm out." Zaki agreed leaving also.

Keiji looked even more petrified then Yamato felt. "URgh…ugh… I ….uhhh….I don't want to be here." Keiji murmured leaving Yamato petrified and alone. Having to deal with those big round innocent blue eyes, staring at him in pure curiosity, innocently.

LIE YAMATO LIE! LIE LIKE YOUR MOTHER'S LIFE DEPENDED ON IT! LIEEEEEEEEE his brain yelled at him. "Umm well, you see Kaida…umm….sex…its….uh….well….its complicated….and-and for adults only Kind of like drinking." Yamato said. Kaida nodded intently.

"But what is IT? Like is it something you eat? Or is it something you do? I don't understand." Kaida asked.

"UMM…." Come on think of something Yamato wanted to yelled at himself. AHAh an idea! "Sex is an essay a man and a woman write together."

"So what IS the essay about?" She asked. This was going to be a really long night.

After the three were out their Adara and Zaki started laughing their heads off. Keiji blushed, "That was a horrible question to have Kaida ask sensei, you know how he gets on the subject."

Zaki had to force herself not to stop laughing. "Oh come ON, that is perfect question to ask. It will make us leaving look unsuspicious to Yamato."

"Still…" Keiji couldn't help but look back. He wondered how their sensei was talking about it.

"Now what do we do?" Adara asked after she calmed down.

"We get our distraction for the guards." Zaki said.

"FUCKTARD!!!! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR, I WANT TO COME IN!" Zaki said slamming on the back door, Adara noted the door did not have a lock.

"YOU KNOW THE DOOR'S OPEN YOU FRICKEN BITCH! NOW YOU JUST BROKE IT EVEN MORE. COME IN!" Was the response. Adara saw the grey haired girl give a wolfish grin before kicking the door in. As Adara stepped in to what appeared to be a kitchen, she didn't really know what it was. Her nose was assaulted with a foul smell, "URGh, what is that?" The brunette exclaimed clapping her hand over her nose. Keiji was doing the same thing.

"That my friend is the smell of a single man's apartment." Zaki smiled.

"Hey! It doesn't smell that bad!" A man said from the door way. Adara looked over to see a guy who had long blond hair. It was so greasy she didn't even know if he knew what a shower meant. His eyes were very blue and his face had high cheekbones covered in what looked to be a 5:00 shadow. If he would take a shower, he would be absolutely gorgeous.

"Yeah it does fucktard," Zaki said walking over to the guy and giving him a big hug.

"What's yah up to Zakuro?" The guy asked, and then he noticed us too. Adara saw his blue eyes look them up and down, distrust filled them. NO it wasn't distrust was it…disappointment? "Hey what are the kids doing here?" He asked. Kid who he calling a kid? Adara was a full fledged shinobi.

"We are here for help." Zaki told him. This clearly startled the man. "WE need a distraction."

The man was interested in helping them, but what were his criteria? He didn't even look like a shinobi. He didn't even look competent. He couldn't even wash his hair! Keiji thought this as Zaki explained her plan to the complete and other stranger. But the stranger wasn't a complete an udder stranger to Zaki. The stranger showed more affection to Zaki then Keiji felt comfortable with. There was no touching, but it was the way the blue eyed looked at her as she talked. The blue eyes showed too much. He looked week too, scraggly mall nourished. Not somebody you could count on.

"Of course I'll help," Fucktard said, "But could you introduce me to the others at least."

"Oh, that's Adara, and the other is Keiji." Zaki said pointing to who she had said.

" Hey, I'm Maxwell, but you guys can call me max." the Blond haired man said. "I thought the other girl on your team was 8."

"Oh Kaida is keeping our sensei busy."

The little red head still looked puzzled. "So sex is an essay a man and a woman write together if they REALLY like each other, And if the girl makes any grammatical mistakes, like skipping a period then they get a punishment that screams and yells a lot." Kaida summed up what Yamato had told her.

"Yes that's EXACTLY It! Lets talk about something else like, uhhhhh ponies!"

"I still have questions, why is it the GIRLS responsibility to check the grammar? Can't the guy, I don't know put something over his pen to make sure there are no mistakes?"

"UHHHH um, I uh, uhhh."

As they were in position Max started walking toward the Buildings side, whistling and looking only slightly drunk. "I don't think this will be sufficient enough distraction." Adara said to Zaki.

"You would be surprised, this is only half of it, and the other half is him wooing the guards." Zaki.

"What if the guards are guys?" Adara whispered back in her ear.

"No they'll be girls, the people who guard this are Anbu, and the guy who runs the Anbu is surprisingly sexist. He doesn't think women should be going on dangerous missions, so he stations them on guard duty. And we are at a time of piece, they are probably incredibly bored and would jump at the chance to beat up a drunken guy, get their aggression out on somebody. It's a win, win."

"How do you know that?"

"I hang out at The Zoo it's a bar where respectable Anbu like to go so nobody recognizes them and they can get piss drunk. I heard a rant from a Koniochi once a couple years ago." Zaki explained looking at the door. "When I say go, go."

Max knew what to do; he had been distraction for other operations, but none as honorable as this one. He started chuckling to himself; as he unzipped his pants. The things he usually got arrested for were the following, Being drunken in a public place, defacing public property, and Max's personal favorite, loitering. Yes he was the evil Loiterer of Konoha. He let out a big sigh as he let himself wiz on the public building.

"HALT!!" a female voice ordered from behind him.

"SHIT," He said stuffing his thing back in his pants, then turning around. "Wow." There was Three female Anbu behind him. "I must be dead."

The smaller girl on the left gave a little chuckle, "Your not dead, but good prediction, is probably going to come true."

"No I must be dead, because seriously how other way would I be able to see 3 gorgeous angels in front of me," He stated waving his arms around like a drunk fool, that line surprisingly worked more then most people thought. The tall girl on the right giggled. This was going splendidly.

"Excuse me but we are going to have to arrest you for defacing public property." The grounded and middle one said.

"SHIT this is PUBLIC property!" Max thought this was one of his best performances ever. He tried to take an unnoticeable breath, this was going to hurt a lot, and the small girl looked like she had a lot of muscle to her. Leaning toward the small aggressor to try to stop her from writing a ticket; Time to get punched in the face!

"NOW!" Zaki said, as max got punched in the face. The three Gennin slipped into the door.

"How did you know that would be unlocked?" Keiji asked once the three of them were in the building.

"It's the front door, in the middle of the day, on a week day. Locking a door probably slipped their minds." Zaki suggested as they snuck down the hallway.

"Quick someone's coming from the side!" Adara whispered, they ran toward the end of the hallway. "Do you know where they keep their records?"

"No." Zaki replied.

"NO!!? Keiji almost screamed. This was a huge building how were they going to find the record room, what if the door had seals, oh no oh no they were going to be found, then killed!

"Its ok, I figured we just have to blend into the environment, then somebody will tell somebody else where it is. Or we can follow random people." Zaki looked around frantically, people were coming this way. "You guys know how to do a transformation jutsu right? Cause as soon as possible turn into an ant!'" Zaki quickly followed her own advice.

"Remember the signs Keiji, Rabbit, dog, dragon, dog, dog bird?" Adara whispered to the boy showing him each sign. "Don't be afraid, your own weakness is no confidence." Adara then went into an ant.

"So, Dan you doing anything tonight?" asked one of the voices approaching.

"Ok!" Keiji repeated it over in his head and tried it, just before the people turned the corner. A girl and a guy both turned the corner.

"Ewww that is the biggest ant I have ever seen!" She said pointing at Keiji, whose transformation made him look like an ant that was as big as somebody's thumbnail.

"Do you want me to squash it for you?" The guy asked the girl, he took off his shoe and approached Keiji, and if he would get any closer he would break the illusion. His arm was rising as they breathed.

"Oh No I heard that the big ones are the queen, they are probably going to start a new nest somewhere." The girl said. The guy stopped his arm from banging down on Keiji.

"But should we let them build a nest in here? I mean what if they get into the record room and destroy all of them?" The three Gennin were scurrying away as fast as possible, Adara now swore to herself that she would never find the pain of ants funny! The man raised his arm to strike them one more time as the girl hummed and hawed.

"I don't think ants like that eat paper, any way I just got off a mission with an Aburame, and they gave me the bug talk. I still kind of feel guilty for all the ones I killed in the past; apparently they are an extremely important part of out ecosystem." Thank YOU SHINO for being so sensitive Screamed Adara in her head.

"Oh ok, so yeah I was planning on going out to dinner tonight, you wanna come with me?" the gay said walking past the three of them, the women quickly joined him.

"Oh I'd love to Dan!" The three let the two other shinobi walk down the hall and out of sight before popping out.

"That was wayyy to close!" Adara whispered, "We need to get out of here quickly."

"How did those two not know it was a transformation jutsu it was painfully obvious, what if they are going for back up?" Keiji worried.

"Those are what I like to call desk shinobi, since they got out of the academy they didn't show enough promise to be a good field shinobi so they were shoved in a desk job." Zaki explained.

"Fine then, where should we go next?"

"What kind of records did it look like she was holding. Like was it in a file or was it a stack of paper?" Adara asked.

"File why?" Zaki offered.

"Cause if it's a file it's more likely to be filed away, it's a long shot, but it's worth a try, what can we lose from it?"

"Right lets go!" Keiji said, maybe finding out who his father is, isn't as worth it as he thought.

The three followed down the well lighted corridor. Keiji heart was pounding,, he was getting angry. Maybe it would just be easier for him to rip somebody's head off? No No No Keiji stopped in the middle of the hallway to clear his head. He felt Adara's hand on his bicep, he violently shrugged it off.

"Keiji are you ok." Adara asked she had also stopped.

"I'm fine!" he growled at her.

"Why don't we stop a while to clear our heads," Zaki said looking at Keiji knowingly, Adara was flustered what is going on with Keiji, he was acting like such a jerk. Her hand immediately went out trying to make him to look at her; it was stopped abruptly by Zaki's. "Keiji needs time to clear his head." She stared at Adara. Zaki then looked at Keiji who looked away. "Are you ok now Keiji, or do you need more time?"

Keiji was breathing heavily, come on control, deep breaths from the diaphragm, no more thoughts like he was thinking, NO MORE! Finally with one last breath he calmed down, "yes let's go, we don't have time for this." He whispered. How could he lose cool now! How could he have almost hurt Adara, he wasn't ready for this, none of them where! But it was too late to back down now!

As they turned the corner they saw two doors, one to the left, and the other to the right. "This is way to stressful,"

"Relax! We just need to peak through the window and make the best decision, Remember to lie through your caps if we get caught, the cover story is we were playing truth or dare, and we wanted to see if we could go in without getting caught." Zaki reassured.

"B-B-ut Zaki the one on the left doesn't have a window to peak through" Keiji said pointing to the windowless door.

"Then that's the door with the records," Adara finished.

"Keep a look out, I'll try to pick the lock." Zaki said, taking out a tool kit from her pack.

"They will probably be seals on the door too." Adara comments.

"Let's not think about this now! And just hope beyond hope that there is no seals." Keiji says, looking the door up and down one more time for clues. "Heck there is probably no lock on the door."

"How do you know that?" Snapped Adara, what was in Keiji today.

"It's the restroom." He replies pointing at the sign that said restroom.

"Ok never mind then!" Zaki said throwing her hands up in defeat.

An odd deep voice was coming from their left. "I don't like this notion of Sai's."

"Quick in the bathroom!" Zaki whispered as the three Gennin frantically slamming themselves in one stall, Adara kept her shoes seen, Zaki and Keiji crammed themselves on the toilet trying to keep there heads down.

"I think he'll come back to us sir," as a sleazy voice said, he must be entering with the deep voice man, a sound of a cane echoed through the stalls.

"Hmm I don't know this Naruto is said to be able to persuade people, he got Tsunada to be Hokage didn't he?" the deep voice with the cane continued.

"Sir he has no conception of social norms, if he doesn't come running back to us as soon as he tries to buy peanut butter, he will when a girl tries to pounce on him." The deep voice gave a rushed harsh laugh. Keiji slipped into the toilet a bit and gave a little grunt.

"I don't get it," the black haired teenage boy said, it was Sai. He had over heard Kaida's and Yamato attention and decided to join in. Now the teen was sitting right next to Kaida and looking just as innocent and confused. Wasn't this just Yamato's lucky day?! "Can a man and a man write sex together?"

"No you can't silly!" Kaida said, "The guy brings the pen, how can your write an essay together if you have no paper?"

"Then can three people write sex together yamato?" Sai asked.

"Is somebody here?" the sleazy guy asked.

"Uhhh yeah, sorry sir, my friends gave me constipation medication, it's a little rough." Keiji lied, the two girls gave him a smile of approval.

"Oh, don't force it son, it'll hurt more." The gruff voice advised.

"Yes," Keiji slipped again his foot landed in the bowl. "Sir,"

"Your forcing it son, it'll take longer." The voice said again.

"Do you have security clearance to be here?" The sleazy one asked.

The three Gennin looked at each other in horror, "No I don't I'm actually 3 Gennin trying to sneak in to the record room, Of Course I have I.D. I just don't have it with me cause um I needed to get to the bath room hurriedly cause I just couldn't take it any longer." Keiji said.

The two men laughed at his remark, "Yeah I had that happen to me once, it's a little embarrassing." The gruff one said.

Zaki then slipped and flushed the toilet, "Curtsy flush!" Keiji said right after, making the men laugh harder.

"Why aren't they leaving?" Mouthed Adara. The other two shrugged. Then a swooshing sound came from the wall to the left.

"We filed the report for you Danzou-sama," The girl from before said. The three Gennin looked at each other confused. Adara's eyes lit up, she knew that name.

"Yes thank you, you two. And well you two know what you are going to receive from this." Danzou told the two. The four turned to leave; the gruff voice seemed to turn back before the door, "Good luck with your…problem."

"Thank you sir!" Keiji said. And they waited for the four to exit.

Max was in a detention sell, ice over his eye, yes the distraction worked, but now he was he in so much pain. The tall girl walked into the room, she had nice ruddy brown hair, and behind the mask you could see jade green eyes. "Are you feeling ok?" She asked in a small voice. This was his favorite part!

"Yeah," He grunted, "I still hurt like hell though." The girl sauntered up and sat on the desk in front of him.

"Yes, we usually don't give enough….personal attention to those who need it." The Anbu officer said, taking out an ointment and starting to rub some of it on his hand. Max took this opportunity, to grab her hand.

"What is a girl like you doing up beating up poor drunken slobs like me?" He started massaging her, never be submissive.

The girl took a long deep breath, obviously still a fresh wound in her memory, "Reasons, my boss doesn't think I'm qualified for his team."

"That's odd, I know I'm not a shinobi, but you punched like the dickens, I mean I still ache…all over." The messaging was getting heating, he had moved to her arm now. Small touches do the trick, leave that trail of fire. She was all ready beating hard.

"Well I'm sure I can help…cure that. My place at 7:00 tonight." She then reached in her shirt and pulled out her address and number. "Don't be late. If you're lucky, I'll invite some friends."

Max took the number as she left the table, god he loved his job.

"What the hell was that all about?" Zaki asked as they all practically fell out of the stall. Keiji was shaking out his shoe vigorously; it had sat in toilet water for at least five minuets.

"I don't know, but we know where the file room is!" Adara said. Going over to the wall trying to find the switch that opens the door.

"Why would they hide it in a bathroom?" Keiji asked, looking at the top of the ceiling.

"They probably have another place in the building where they put fake records or something." Zaki told them turning on and off the water, seeing if something would trigger the door.

"But why would somebody not want those records to be reported? And what was he going to give them for not telling people? And if that was the head of Anbu like I think it was, why was he so unsecritive even though he knew people where in the bathroom. I mean isn't discretion supposed to be their creed?" Adara voiced all the questions going through every ones head at the moment.

"I found it!" Keiji said pulling on a coat hanger in one of the stalls. A whole appeared in the wall.

"Good job Keiji! Adara, I think its best we don't ask question's we don't want answered." Zaki told her.

"Adara your good at sensing traps right?"

"I was first at the academy but…"

"NO buts you go first!" Ordered the grey haired girl. "Keiji you go next cause you're the best fighter you can take a hit for either of us if you see something coming, I'll go last." Zaki explained. The other two looked at each other and nodded.

Adara began down the hall way, Keiji following and at the very end Zaki. She found the notch to close the door. It took them a while following a dark corridor, Adara noted that all the traps were disarmed, the other two shinobi weren't only not good at sensing jutsu's they were sloppy Forgetting to redo all the traps. They saw a huge stairwell and started down it.

They finally entered a huge cavern hundreds of file cabinets. "It must be underground," Adara reasoned.

"No we are actually above ground its just nobodies noticed the huge cave in the middle of Konoha." Zaki snapped. "How the hell are we going to find the file in here?"

"Well the newer is probably in the back, cause then if somebody did get in here it would take them longer in the back then if they put it up front." Keiji rezoned.

Adara was examining the file closes to them. "FAILED KIDNAP of HYUUGA HINATA." She read aloud.

"Wow that's detailed what would your mother be under, Anbu pregnancies?" Zaki asked.

"Its some place to start."

The three started reading the labels on the cabinets. "Got It I think! Orochimaru, agents…" Keiji's voice faltered reading the label again, No No NO!!! He kept repeating to himself.

Adara was too busy to be paying attention, she had found the file the others had put away, and it had some of the girls red fingernail polish on it. The file was named Jinchurik, Akatsuki , What the hell? What was the Akatsuki and what the hell was a Jinchurik. She opened it just a little, a name automatically popped out at her. Mitsu Lido, wasn't Mitsu, Kaida's first name?

"Come on! Adara we have it let's leave!" Zaki yelled frightening her back to reality, Adara grabbed the file and jammed the door shut.

Danzou walked with the three other shinobi to the end of the hall. He and his assistant had departed ways from the other two easily bribed shinobi. He felt sick that they were even part of HIS Konoha. What ever they will be eliminated in good time. He listened to the two fraternize as they walked away.

"The guy in the bathroom was constipated!" Dan said, the girl laughed with him.

"Yeah and he had really girly feet!" The girl added. Danzou stopped in his tracks. Idiot! Grabbing his assistant by the throat and choking him.

"YOU IMBECILE! Why didn't you catch that?!" Danzou hissed at the worm.

"BUT sir, nobody knows where the real records are kept accept a select few, and and," The man was gasping from breath as Danzou forced the life out of him. "And any competent Anbu from anther village would be able to mask their chakra better, and they wouldn't show their feet." The incompetent lard struggled to say.

"YOU GO CHECK just to make sure!" Danzou ordered releasing him.

"Up the stairs, up the stairs!" Zaki said hurrying the other two. "But be careful I made some traps so they weren't that suspicious."

"Stop," Adara whispered, "I think I just heard something, the door just opened, go back down the stairs, go back down the stairs." The three Gennin rushed down the stairwell.

"WE don't have a way out!" Keiji worried.

"Thank you Hokage obvious." Zaki said. "There has got to be another exit! I mean don't all fire codes say there has to be another exit!"

"The chakra's getting closer!" Adara whispered they all went into the stacks.

"I see a door at the end of the hall way." Keiji said, pointing to a well hidden black door. A clatter from above, a small rustle from the stairs, somebody was coming down. The three rushed to the door and shut it behind them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The man gave a little curse as he let something rattle; if there was anybody here they would know now. Quickly flying down the stairs, he was going to catch those thieves. The man got down the sitars just in time to see grey hair go flying through one of the exit doors. Oh so they wanted to play cat and mouse, he could play cat they are the mouse. This wasn't even a threat. The mans eyes bulged, there was a file cabinet open and missing something, and he knew exactly the file that was missing. He know with all his speed was pursuing the other Shinobi.

"Go, Go, Go, Go!" Zaki said as they ran into dark damp rooms, no windows.

"Where are we?" Keiji asked, following Zaki as she blindly went to the right.

"I know, it's the safe rooms we used them when the sound village attacked!" Adara said remembering the scary day.

"Safe rooms?!" Zaki said incredulously, "I don't remember anybody bringing me to a safe house, I remember Allie coming to get me and hiding me under the bar were she keeps her liquor!" They entered another room, in the maze, "DO YOU REMEMBER HOW TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS PLACE?"

Keiji forced both the girls head down as a kunai came whizzing passed. "I think somebody's following us!"

"Oh really I couldn't tell!" Zaki seethed between her teeth as they all dodged another kunai. They turned another corner into a set of rooms, "How fucking big is this place?"

"It has to fit all of KONOHA! Go to the left," Adara replied the Kuna's were becoming more frequent. "No your other left; I think I see some sun!" So Zaki turned to the left as instructed, to go to a room that was a dead end.

"A window!" Keiji said, pointing outside.

This wasn't even a challenge for the roots member; he could have easily picked these guys off. But he had decided to stay back, these were decoys he could easily tell, but he wanted to have a little fun before capturing them and torture. It was funny he couldn't even get a trace of the people with the actual one, but these guys were so easy to follow, they had to be a decoy. But he didn't let his guard down; you had to be Anbu level or more to get in the record room. He started chuckling to himself; he got them trapped in a corner.

As he turned a corner to catch them, he was stopped, a shadow binned jutsu. Now that was interesting. The anbu smiled to himself, he didn't need to chase these people any more. He knew the only shadow binned user that would be capable of pulling this off, and with the grey hair he saw before, he knew exactly who his accomplice is. Yes he was going to give a special visit to Hatake Kakashi, and Nara Shikimaru.


	16. Fathers

The three were on top of the Hokage Mountain; they had climbed out of Tsunda's eyes. Once they were all at the top they stopped. Adara could barely move. She had never done a proper shadow binned like that. She had been practicing but it had never worked before, her body now didn't want to work. Keiji let her put her wait on him. "We can go to my house, my grama won't ask questions and Adara needs food." Keiji offered helping Adara up so she was riding piggy back on him. Zaki agreed with a nod and Adara grunted. The three silently went to Keiji's house. Keiji's grandfather was lovingly attending to his daffodils and didn't notice them. His grandmother just smiled and told them cookies would be here soon.

In the Keiji's room, Keiji took out the folder and put it on the bed between the three. They all looked at it like it was going to eat them. "Do you want to read it first Keiji?" Zaki asked looking at her male team mate. His hand shook as he reached it out to open the file. But he violently snatched it away before opening it. "How bout this, once Adara is nice and rested both her and I will go home and you can decide if you want to read the file or not." Keiji shook his head and put the file in his desk. Zaki looked around the room; it was a nice size holding a simple full sized bed. Two medium sized dresser sat on the opposite wall, and in front of the window was a small desk were Keiji still had all his jewelry stones out. He put the file in the bottom left hand cupboard. Right then his grandmother came in carrying a tray of different types of cookies.

"You three look tired, training?" She asked, they all smiled at the sweet lady.

"Adara finally nailed the shadow binned jutsu, that's why she's so tired Grandma." Keiji informed the old lady taking a gingersnap. Grandmother went right over to Adara and gave her a big hug.

"Oh dove, I'm so proud of you; it seems like only yesterday you came here for the first time tutoring Keiji in kunai use. My honey dove you are just spectacular."

Adara gave Keiji's grandmother a tired smile, "Thanks grandma viola it means a lot hug you back but I'm really tired." The old women then turned to Keiji and swatted him on the head.

"You shouldn't have worn your friend out so much Keiji," the old lade then turned to Zaki and smiled, "He didn't do that to you? Did he? I know Keiji can be a little overenthusiastic."

"Oh a good tiring is good for us, um," Zaki had never dealt with a woman so nice before she now understood how Keiji could be so sweet.

"Just call me Grandma Viola like everyone else little sparrow,"

"Oh ok, Grandma Viola?" Zaki asked looking at her. Everyone nodded in agreement.

'I'll go get some more nutritious lunches for you three." Grandma viola said leaving the room.

"Why did she call me little sparrow,"

"She nicknames every one by a bird. Adara's dove, she named Kaida Humming bird and now I think she decided on sparrow for you. Better get used to it." Keiji informed his team mate.

"Oh." Zaki looked over at Adara who had fallen asleep. "Do you remember that day, the day orochimaru attacked?" She asked in casual conversation.

Keiji gave a slight shudder; he did remember that day all to well. It was 4-5 years ago from today he didn't really remember. "Yeah I remember that day. Why do you ask?"

"Well it's just that, if orochimaru wanted to really attack Konoha hard, he would have had at least 2 squadrons of men go through the dregs wrecking some type of havoc, they could have easily snuck in. And I recall there were no men to even go through this area, not the dregs at least. No shinobi whatsoever not even those on our side, it would be odd not to take this strategic point." Keiji pursed his lips he knew what Zaki was getting at, and he understood perfectly he just didn't know if Grandpa wanted him to tell anybody. "They would have to pass very much near here."

"Why do you want to know?" He asked Zaki.

"For 4 years I thought that nobody cared enough about the dregs to actually touch it. And that might be true, but Keiji, Your grandfather was a war hero, you think they would have given him a nicer place then this. They wanted to make him Hokage before the third. Then they gave him this place, outside the dregs away from everything… but a place you have to pass by if you want to get in illegally. Maybe they didn't send protection cause we all ready had it." Zaki mused, Keiji marveled at how she could figure this out.

"I was stuck home that day; Grandmother had me stay in the basement. As Grandpa went outside, I snuck up here and peered through my window." Keiji started.

_Keiji was ten again he was leaning over the desk and could here what was going on outside, Grandpa sat on his rocking chair as two sound shinobi approached him. _

"_We ask you to get back inside old man, we don't want any trouble." One of them said._

"_I don't give trouble to those who don't give trouble to me." Was grandpa's usual response. _

"_We ask you not to do any heroics" The second one said a lot more respect in his voice._

"_I don't give trouble to those who don't trouble me, you can bring your men through here just don't trouble me or my folk." Grandpa replied the men seemed startled he knew about the squadrons hiding in the forest. Keiji had counted 3 earlier that week. Keiji started to shake in anger how could grand pa, let these men in, this was a fighting force to take over Konoha. They were shinobi they were supposed to protect Konoha! _

_The sound shinobi gave a whistle and four men came forward. They mumbled something about scouting, "STOP RIGHT THERE!' Grandpa yelled at the men. "You just violated your contract" Keiji grandfather said taking off his shirt. Keiji gasped there hanging on his neck was his wolf paw. It was Keiji re clan, each man had an animal symbol that was there protector when they went into their berserker mode. They only wore that for battle, it was customary for them to go shirtless and armor less to show there belief in there animal protector. Grandfather was a wolf. _

"_What do you mean we just were walking away?" _

"_Those things you just stepped on were my prize winning petunias I consider them my fold. I'm sorry but you die." Then in less then a blink of an eye Keiji's grandfather grabbed one of the men by the throat and ripped out his jugular. _

"_Keiji I told you to get your ass down in the basement right now!" His grandmother ordered him. And Keiji reluctantly returned to the windowless basement. _

_Later that night, his grandfather returned covered in blood. His grandmother ran to him and gave him a ferocious hug and kissed him on the mouth. "Mayuri I was so worried about you. I was so worried I was. I thought you were retired!" His grandmother screamed at his grandfather never letting go. She buried her head in his chest trying to hide the tears leaking through. _

"_Shhh, shhhh viola I'm ok, this isn't my blood. You can stop crying." His grandfather reassured. Grandmother straightened up and wiped the blood away from her face, it had gotten all over her. _

"_Well then," she was trying to compose herself. "Go in the back and wash off with the hose, I don't want you stepping on our carpet." Grandfather gave a little chuckle. His grandmother turned around. _

"_What went wrong, you're only this bitter if something went wrong." _

"_I let one squad run away, I could have gotten them when I was younger but I let one flee in front of me." He admitted ashamedly._

"_How many did you get?" _

"_3 squadron's worth of men, before the fourth fled I also left all the bodies for the anbu to clean up." _

"_Get washed up now I have dinner waiting for you." Grandmother then turned around looking straight at Keiji, "You young man, go to bed without supper for disobeying me." _

"And that's it," Keiji finished; Zaki looked at him wide eyed.

"HOLY crap!" She said after a while. "I mean, wow and I thought the third never cared."

"Yeah so that's why the dregs weren't attacked, my grandfather took the guys out."

"Who's your protector; if your grandfather a wolf does that make you a cub?" Zaki asked, Keiji was staring out the window still remembering that day.

"I haven't found mine yet, my Grandfather tells me I'll be different from him, I could be any animal. My mother apparently was a panther." He told her, his eyes resting where the file was.

"What happens when you do find out, what it is?"

Keiji gave one of his famous sigh's, "My grandfather say's I'll know what to do and how, but I sometimes think I'll never find it. They say a berserker without an animal spirit is just a mass murderer, who's a danger to everyone."

Zaki smiled at her team mate as she ruffled his purple hair. "You'll find out what it is Keiji, and when you do you'll find out that it's not that important."

"Should we take Adara home, she seems really tuckered out." Keiji asked looking at the Nara who was softly asleep on his bed.

"Oh no you don't, young man. Wake her up so she can come down and eat a good healthy meal, then Zaki can walk her home. You have chores to do." Grandmother Viola said from the doorway, Keiji wondered how long she had been standing there. "Wake her up."

Adara was woken up by a soft shake of her shoulder, slowly opening her eyelids she saw Keiji leaning over her. Was this a dream? If it was it was really nice, she felt his warm breath on her skin it left a tingling sensation all over her. She tried to suppress a shudder.

"Adara you're shuddering, are you getting sick." Keiji asked leaning down closer, Adara's breathing was getting rapid as she felt her cheeks blushing. This was a dream, this was a dream, it had to be. Keiji's warm breath was making her skin melt.

"I think you should give her some air Keiji," Zaki's voice said, and unfortunately he obeyed getting off of Adara. Leaving her body aching for more; she slowed her breathing down before saying anything.

"I'm coming; I'm just tired that's all." Adara said sitting up, trying not to look at her best friend in the eye.

"Keiji you go downstairs, I'll help Adara down." Zaki told the purple haired giant; her eyes never leaving Adara's. Keiji left the two girls alone in his room. "So?? How long have you been pinning over Keiji?" Zaki asked.

"I don't PINE for him!" Adara defended.

Zaki threw a pillow at her. "Yeah right the way you were breathing meant there had to be some suppressed feelings. I'm surprised you didn't moan you were breathing so hard."

"Shut up!" Adara was getting angry and she could tell Zaki was enjoying every minuet of it.

"Fine fine, just don't do anything to sudden, Keiji will freak." Zaki said hoisting Adara's arm over her shoulder. "Lets get some food."

Adara limped home Shikimaru was reading on the couch. "Hey" She said as she plopped down by his feet.

"You look tired." He commented flipping through the pages.

"Yeah, I finally got the Shadow binned down." Adara groaning, her whole body hurt.

"That's funny I thought dad was on a mission." Shikimaru mussed.

"He is." Adara said, she didn't want Shikimaru knowing what she had been doing for the past two weeks. She hadn't trained trained at all; Yeah sure Yamato sensei gave her some pushups or chakra control things to do, but she knew that he had his own team to teach so she didn't press him for more. And Shikimaru and Dad had been so weighed down with missions she really didn't want to come with more stuff for them to do. It would be too troublesome to them.

Shikimaru put down his magazine and looked at her. Dam it he always knew it when she wanted to avoid a subject. It was a sibling thing. "I bet Neji was proud though," This was very pointed.

Adara rubbed her nose before sayinig anything. "Yeah he was."

"Liar!" Shikimaru proclaimed.

"No I'm not!" Adara replied rubbing the other side of her nose.

"You always rub your nose when you lie to me," Shikimaru proclaimed, Adara made her hand leave her face.

"What were you doing?" Shikimaru asked.

"Training," Adara declared looking Shikimaru straight in the eye. What she just did could be considered training, breaking into a government facility could come in handy later in life.

"With who?"

"Keiji, and Zakuro."

"Why weren't you training with your own team?"

"Why does it matter!? I was training isn't that the important part?" Adara defended herself.

"Adara?" Shikimaru continued, Dam Adara couldn't lie to Shikimaru ever. She could lie to Dad, even Mom she could lie too. But She never mastered the art of lying to her brother.

"Well, Neji-sensei is always busy training Hinabi, and well Lee Vang is training with his own family and well…Dad's always gone on missions and you would say its troublesome so I guess I didn't want to burden anybody." Adara confessed, it was nice getting this of her chest. She looked at Shikimaru, he looked mad. Adara had never seen him mad like this, his face was blank and he was pursing his lips. He looked like mom did when she was mad, frankly it was scary.

"So you haven't been training?" His voice was low.

"Well I've been training." Adara interjected, she suddenly realized that she still had the files in her shirt. She needed to get rid of them.

"Yes but not with your actual team,"

"What does it matter, training is training."

"It does matter, team work is important for missions and Neji is ignoring that part of training you."

"We haven't failed a mission yet!"

"That doesn't excuses the fact that an untrained Ninja is not only in damaging the mission, but also hurting their team mates and themselves."

"Now that makes me sound helpless, I'm not stupid!" Adara hated this, "And who are you to talk? I mean you're lecturing me about training? You're the person who actively does NOTHING!"

"This isn't about me, you need to train."

"WAIT! Just because you have a genius IQ YOU can get out off all the regular shinobi stuff. But since I'm apparently not as special as you are…"

"I'm not saying that! You're putting words in my mouth. And when have you ever gotten the notions that I don't work?" Shikimaru stated.

"You don't have to work! I mean if I did one of your little hiding sessions, people would call me a delinquent and not even bother looking for me. But you do one of those I'm not going to work things, and people spend hours looking for you. Shikimaru everyone from Dad to your sensei to the hokage thinks the sun shines out of your ass!"

"That's not true!" Shikimaru was getting flustered; he never knew that Adara felt this way. "Dad has no favorites."

"My birthday was a week ago, and he forgot! Mom had to remind him. Your last birthday party, he was the one who made sure the invitations all got out. He was an active part in that."

"That's cause he's old and forgetful."

"Shikimaru, he still thinks I'm ten! I mean yesterday he asked me how my academy grades were! He has a calendar for when ever you have a mission for gods sake!"

"I'm not going to argue favorites with you Adara, Its not that important!" Shikimaru replied getting up. "Now I'm going to go give Neji a piece of my mind about training." Shikimaru then slammed the door to the house. Adara then went to her room. She was still fuming over the argument when she got out her camera.

Adara didn't want to read the file, not yet any more she wanted to sleep, but first she was going to ditch the actual file. Getting her digital camera out then took a picture of each page. She hid the memory file in an old shoe under her bed. Mom was probably out shopping because it was a Wednesday grocery day. She probably had 5 more minuets before anyone came home. She needed to get rid of the actual file, some how. She didn't know how though. Probably fire would be easiest, Shikimaru had his lighter with him. And unlike him Adara actually respected his privacy! The stove top, Mom had been trying to get a new stove, but dad said it was too troublesome. She went into the kitchen and turned on one of the gas burners. Holding the files above it please let this not be flame proof. The pages caught fire after that.

Kaida walked to her house very confused, what Yamato-sensei had just said didn't make sense at all, but she smiled anyway. Daddy promised to play with her tonight. And she just couldn't wait. Stepping through the rickety door Kaida yelled, "Mommy! Daddy I'm home!"

"Hi honey," Her mother replied, she was in the kitchen cooking something.

"COULD YOU TWO BE QUIT PLEASE I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!" Lido yelled from their bedroom. Kaida tried to go quietly to there chair in the living room, but she accidentally tripped and sent a pile of her fathers papper spiraling. Her father burst through the door, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT NOISE!" He then looked at Kaida desperately trying to clean the mess she made. "FUCK! Don't touch those you'll just mess it up!" Her father was livid, Kaida backed away.

"LIDO!" kin yelled at her husband who stopped moving towards Kaida. He looked around and closed his eyes, slowing down his breathing. Kaida was trying not to cry, she hated when daddy was like this.

When his breathing was slower Lido gently knelt down to Kaida's level. "Kaida," He said slowly. She didn't look at him, trying to hide the tears in her eyes. "Little dragon please look at me." He pleaded with her, Kaida was sniffling back tears.

"I didn't mean to knock them over daddy, I really didn't it was an accident. I didn't try I'm sorry I'm sorry." Kaida replied her voice cracking from the tears. Lido gave his daughter a big hug.

"I know my little dragon , I know. Daddy's just a little stressed, so he yelled for no reason. I'm sorry I shouldn't have gotten angry I'm just really over worked right now. You know what? We will pick this mess up, and pretend it never happened." Kaida's father whispered using a small voice. Kaida was wiping away the tears in her eyes. "But afterwards daddy's going to have to go back to work."

"Ok, so were not going to play any board games today?" Kaida croaked.

"We can't little dragon, but I promise that when I'm done with this, we will play Parcheesi till your hearts desire." Lido promised, Kaida gave him a week smile. "Lets get started then."

Zaki headed for Max's house, she didn't have anywhere else to go, so she might as well wait at his house watching his crappy little T.V. The grey haired girl slammed the door open, she hoped she wouldn't have to bail Max out. When she landed on his couch she saw something. It was the photo album her mother handed to her before she left for the Rehab center. Opening it up she didn't find a lot of photo's of people she knew in it. A lot of old friends she guessed when her parents were younger.

Zaki's stopped at one page, it was her mother in a hospital bed smiling up at the camera, a pink bundle held tightly in her arms. Which Zaki noted even then had track marks running up them. Her father must be holding the camera, she mused.

The next photo was of Allie when she was much younger, well he suspected that it was Allie, she didn't see the girls face. For the women was leaning into a man on a brick wall and they were kissing passionately, the man had chin length black hair and a white stripe in the middle. He looked vaguely familiar; it was that Gai man that Allie had yelled at the other day. On the back of that photo, in Sara's hand writing it said, Just married. 4 other photo's after that was that couple kissing in different locations.

Another photo was of all four of them, Sara stood in the middle face downward and a smile from laughing so much on her face. Zaki's father was right behind her whispering something in her ear to make her laugh. Gai Was leaning into the photo on the left side, Long hair swept up in a low pony tail. He was holding up his thumb towards the camera. Leaning on the left side of the camera was Allie she had a wide smile on her face and was holding up a peace sign towards the camera.

The last photo made her stop; it was a photo just of Zak Zaki's father. His hair was flat down, a lot like that Sai guys but it was grey instead of black. His piercing clover green eyes were directed at the camera. The pose made him look really cool; it showed him of the chest up. His cigarette hand propped his chin up. A burning Cigarette held in between two fingers. Zaki took the photo out of the protective wrapping and pocketed it. That was how she wanted to remember her father.

Keiji waited 30 minuets after Zaki and Adara left before going back in his room. Taking a deep breath he opened the file and began to read. Most of it was detailing what she was doing with Orochimaru.

_On the 4__th__ month of the mission Orochimaru was getting suspicious, as a punishment for something I apparently did. In punishment he locked me in a cell with one of our test subjects, a crazy man named Juugo. Juugo was the original source of Orochimaru Curse Seal, we do believe that he had the Berserker curse too. To my surprise Juugo kept his composure for the first three nights we shared our cell. The Fourth day, he was taken out of his cell for questioning, when he came back he was close to death, I nursed him back to health. That night we had intercourse, for the first time. _

Keiji had to stop right there, is that the way she put it was this man Juugo his father? Intercourse, it was such a detached was of saying making love to a person. Was that how his mother saw it, there was no passion or love behind the act that conceived him. It was Intercourse. Did this Man Juugo feel the same way? Did Juugo see it as intercourse? Keiji was always taught that love, was supposed to be between two people who cared for each other deeply. How could somebody describe the act of conceiving a child intercourse, His grandmother had described it as something only two people who can touch each other souls can do. That love was between two people who without even trying knew each others deepest secrets. Like two best friends but deeper and perfect. With best friends you could get bored of each other. With love you can sit around and do nothing but still have the best time of your life.

But according to this file, Keiji was not a child of Love, or even passion, just a child of Intercourse.


	17. The Start of a mission

The next morning to Yamato's relief all of the team were on time to get there mission. Zaki was grumbling something about hangovers.

"What were you hanging over?" Kaida asked her.

"The bottle," Was all of Zaki's reply.

"How is that?"

Keiji then interrupted her, "we got to go for the briefing Kaida, ask Zaki these questions when your older."

"I'm almost 9 you know! I'm practically an adult!" Kaida told her peers. The two older kids laughed. "It's not funny! It's true!"

"Shh the Hokage needs respect." Yamato scolded the three. All of them tensed, this was the first time Tsunada actually was briefing the team. And he was 200% sure that he was the only one that had ever had contact with the Kage before. He looked at Keiji who looked scared. Kaida looked curious and Zaki looked, hung over.

When they went in Yamato smiled to himself, Tsunada looked as hung-over as Zaki, if not more. He wondered how this encounter would turn out. He just hoped Zaki wouldn't say anything about her breast size.

Keiji was very UN wowed by the Hokage, maybe it was because she looked as miserable as Zaki. Or maybe it was because the he was expecting a goddess that shone through the darkness like a hundred thousands suns. But it was probably the first. She was pretty, he guessed. She had beautiful dark eyes and her blond hair was nice. Keiji blushed at the next thought, her chest was bigger then the women's chest's in Shikimaru play boy. He had heard stories that her beauty would make any man melt. Maybe, maybe if she smiled.

"So Yamato, your team today will be going on a week long escort mission, You will be escorting the Daimyo's youngest son and daughter, there 6. You'll be going to the point between, the Sand, and the Waterfall village. You will meat up in the Daimyo's summer house, stay a night if it's late. But try to get back as soon as possible; the Gennin sign up for the chunnin exam is in a week and a half." Tsunada grumbled.

"You look so perky today Hokage." Zaki grumbled.

"I could say the same for you Gennin."

"Yeah but I have the power of youths amazing liver do you?" Zaki was making fun of the hokage, she was going to get defenestrated! (A.N defenestrated means to throw out a window.)

"Experience I find is better then youthful energy." Tsunada replied, she was smirking so maybe Zaki wouldn't get defenestrated.

"My head hurts too much to come up with a reply," Zaki finally conceded. Tsunada gave a similar grunt.

"You may go. The kids will meat you at the south gate."

"I GET IT KNOW!" Kaida said walking out, "HOKAGE-SAMA IS HANGED OVER THE BOTTLE LAST NIGHT LIKE ZAKI!"

"That's the gist of it Kaida," Yamato told her.

The kids were there waiting for them, with two chunnin and a middle age looking man. The man was Yamato's height, his features were undefined, and a cowboy hat sat on top of his head. The two looked like twins, both with big brown eyes and ruddy brown hair. They were fighting over a stuffed bunny.

"Come on Suki, Sasuke, if I have to take away Harvey **(1) **again there will be serious consequences." The man scolded.

"But Sensei-sama you said it was my turn with Harvey," The little girl whined.

"Nuuh Harvey likes me better, he doesn't want to go with you he thinks you smell and have girl cooties!" The boy Sasuke said pulling at the bunny harder.

"Stop it right now you two!" The man boomed, the boy and girl stopped instantly. "Harvey will be traveling with me for the rest of the journey." He took the bunny from the feuding siblings.

Kaida scoffed at that, "that's so childish, can't they learn to share?"

"Hello, are you Tikashi? Yamato asked the man.

He smiled seeing the team, "Yes are you are escorts?"

"Yes I'm Yamato; this is my team, Keiji, Kaida and Zakuro." Yamato introduced, the little Twins eyes widened at Keiji and Zakuro. But then didn't look trusting at Kaida.

"She looks younger then us!" The boy said,

"Yeah what does she know about anything?" The girl continued.

Kaida pursed her lips, "for your information I'm almost 9 that's 3 years older then you, so respect your elders." Kaida confronted the two younger children. "And even if I wasn't older then you, you still shouldn't be so rude."

"Why would I take orders from your bossy mouth?" Sasuke asked Kaida.

"Because my fist will slam into your whiney face!" Kaida shot back.

"Cut it out you two!" Tikashi ordered. Sasuke pursed his lips and crossed his arms over his side. Suike giggled seeing her twin like this. Kaida blatantly stuck her tongue out. Keiji bumped his team mate. He expected contention from Zaki not Kaida. But any way, it was only a week. He looked over toward Yamato, Takashi had pulled out a map and they were talking about routes they should take.

"I think we should take the gorge route, it's faster." Takashi declared.

"Yeah but its easy ambush area, any body could come and nock us off the cliff, plus the cliffs are unstable this time of year." Yamato said.

"But if we take this way it'll only be 2 and a half days instead of 3."

"A half a day is something I'll risk, its safer taking the other way." Yamato said, Takashi looked desperate. The man lowered his voice.

"I know this is horrible, but there Older sisters wedding is in 3 days, and they don't have to attend, but they both really really want to be there for her. I told them I'd try to get them there for at least the reception. And well we would have been a week earlier but the Hokage decided to delay our travel for another week. I know you shouldn't be doing this but please." Takashi pleaded.

"Is that man saying were not going to get to Sis's wedding in time!" Suika said worried. "But we promised to be there for the reception, sis will be counting on us!" The girl was nearly in tears. Takashi looked like he would rather be stabbed with a Kunai.

"And Takashi needs to tell our sister that he loves her before she ends up marrying that jerk faced ugly guy that smells bad!" Sasuke added.

Takashi bit his lip. "If it's for love we got to do it!" Kaida agreed.

"It is a noble pursuit." Keiji agreed. Yamato looked over Takashi. He seemed like a man to his word.

"Plus, if somebody was planning on attacking us, they are more likely to camp on the main road thinking we would trade in speed for safety." Zaki said lighting up a cigarette.

"My mommy says cigarettes kill." Suike said looking at Zaki. Zaki smirked and leaned down towards the little girl, and blew a smoke ring by her face.

"Better get out of my death smoke then." Zaki replied, the little girl coughed and retreated.

Kaida scoffed at the little girl, "You don't know Zaki she's practically invincible, no little things like cigarettes will kill her, not to mention she's unbelievably cool."

Keiji smirked at this comment, so did Yamato. The little girl had always looked up to her older team mate. Zaki looked frightened.

"Come on lets get going, Takashi needs to valiantly save our sister!" Sasuke cried.

"Yeah let's get going." Zaki agreed. She seemed perturbed by something.

"Oh and remember we can't run into the shark man," Suike added. The boy Sasuke nodded in agreement.

The first night of camping Kaida laid there with Yo in her arms. She couldn't sleep, it was cold and nobody was there. Well the others were there, but it wasn't like at home. Where either daddy or mommy was there to comfort her, she looked around; Zaki was off staring at the stars. Nobody else would notice her. She remembered her father told her when she was real little, when she would get scared. Her father told her to close her eyes shake her hands and say Googely, Googely, Googely go away! But she was grown up now, she knew that wouldn't work. Kaida snuck over to Yamato, and poked him.

Yamato woke up; there was no sound of fighting. "What's wrong Kaida?" He asked. She bit her lip.

"May I cuddle with you tonight?" She asked her blue eyes shining in the darkness. Yamato wanted to say no, she was a shinobi after all. But he couldn't.

"Ok, But don't wiggle too much." Yamato said opening up his blanket to let Kaida in. The small mass settled in and the breathing quickly became regular breathing.

Zaki stared into the camp, smirking at there sensei letting Kaida cuddle with him. He was a big over grown kid at heart. Never knowing what really too do. He looked up to Kakashi like a sick puppy. And his scary face wasn't really scary. It was just creepy. Zaki then looked towards Keiji who was laying down the farthest away from the fire. He slept on his stomach and it barely muffled the snores. The twins slept in each others arms. For siblings who only bickered they sure were very close. Zaki looked around to look for Takashi.

"Looking for me?" A voice said from behind her, the girl jumped. There was the male nanny standing in front of her. He sat down next to her tree stump.

"You should get your rest if you're going to go save a girl from a fate worst then death." Zaki joked with him.

"No I wanted to talk to you." Takashi said leaning on a tree next to him.

"About what?"

"Just talk, how bout you ask a question I ask a question." Takashi suggested.

"Sure" The teenage girl scooted farther away from the man. "What's a guy like you doing as a Nanny?"

"Well it's a good paying job, I like kids and well. I wanted to be able to see Sylvia. My turn, Why are you a shinobi?" Takashi asked.

Zaki had to think long and hard about that question, not really she needed to think of how to lie to him. "I'm good at it." She finally said.

"Is that it, your good at it?"

"Hey, it's my question, what's so special about Sylvia?"

"I think your two young to understand."

"She's that good in the sack?"

"No no, we've never I mean *cough cough* no it's just, I met her after getting the snuff beat out of me by bandits. I was I don't know unconscious, and when I woke, there she was standing above me in a glow of illuminating presence, she was glowing. Like an angel. That's when I realized I loved her. That's two questions, My question How do your parents feel about the smoking, and I assume heavy drinking."

Zaki smirked, thinking how to react trying to remain calm. "My mom doesn't know she would probably freak, but my step dad does he doesn't really care."

"What does your mom do?"

"WHY DOES IT MATTER?!" Zaki asked.

"Can't answer a question with a question."

"Says who?"

"You're a little defensive." Takashi shrugged.

Zaki took a big breath of her cigarette, "You're a little nosy."

"I was just wondering." Takashi said.

"Why do you care? I mean you think you know people like me?" Zaki argued god she sounded emo, but who was this guy who just came over and started asking questions about her personal life?

"I like to think I do, I did get a dr. in child psychology."

"Was that the requirement of being a nanny?"

"Not really I wanted to originally deal with young adult abuse victims." He put off handedly, Zaki stiffened.

"You think I'm a victim? I'm not I'm a fucking shinobi I'm able to take care of myself." Zaki rushed.

"I never implied that, you did. So you think you are a victim?" Takashi had such a cool exterior, Zaki wanted to punch him in the face.

"No I can take care of myself, I don't need anyone. I'm independent I'm not a love struck puppy that's for sure and no my mommy does not hit me, but thanks for asking!" Zaki was getting angry who was this guy to come here and think he knew her and knew what goes on in her life. He doesn't know jack shit. "You don't know jack shit."

"I've never met a man named jack shit so you are right. And I never implied any of that; you were the one who jumped to conclusions. And if hypothetically if you were an abuse victim, you show no sign of physical abuse, but you do show a sign of a girl who had been sexually"

Zaki stood up, "Its time for me to sleep, Keiji's watch. Mr. Takashi it's rude to make assumptions about people, hypothetical or not." Zaki scolded, as she quickly rushed to wake Keiji for his watch. Takashi just watched her with a frown.

Keiji woke up to Zaki shaking him like there was no tomorrow, "Wha-what is it?"

"Your turn to take watch," Zaki told him, "don't make your bed, I'll just use yours because I don't want to go to the trouble to use mine." Zaki practically through him out of bed, she seemed ruffled about something. Takashi was frowning and looking at her.

"Did he do something to you?" Growled Keiji, he didn't like this Takashi guy not at all.

Zaki rolled her eyes, "NO I'm just…really tired."

"Oh ok, I'll let you sleep." Keiji gave in, there was no use in pursuing Zaki when she was like this, and it only ended up with insults against him. Keiji grudgingly trudged to the spot Zaki at, glaring at Takashi. HOW DARE he fluster Zaki! Zaki was his team mate, under his protection; if anything happened to her it would be horrible. She was a friend.

As Keiji sat down Takashi said something, "You look like you just swallowed a bug."

Keiji growled in response, what could a nanny have done to shake her so much? "Hn I don't like not getting enough sleep." Keiji lied, Zaki had taught him to lie, and he was good at it. People who didn't know him could never tell. But he could never, would never lie to a close friend, or his grandparents.

"Yeah I know what you mean," Takashi grinned, "The sky is beautiful isn't it?"

"Yea," Keiji said looking at the stars he had always preferred sunrises, they reminded him of Adara. The night sky was nice though.

"It reminds me of Sylvia," The Nanny mused, "Practically everything reminds me of her." He admitted with a chuckle.

"Sylvia must be some girl, for you to go through all this trouble." Keiji murmured.

"I would go through a lot worse for her, when you're in love with somebody, you would do anything for them especially if you think they are going to do something life altering."

"Like getting married to the wrong man?" Keiji asked. Takashi smiled at the lad.

"That would be an example," the man admitted.

"If you love Sylvia why is she going to marry another man?"

"Well like you know she is the eldest daughter of a Daimyo, she's doing her duty and marrying a very rich banker, or is he an invester in the stalk market? I don't know he wears a suit were ever he goes. I was going to tell her and her father that I loved her. But Charles that's her fiancé over heard and had it staged so I had to bring the twins over to Konoha, hoping I wouldn't be able to tell her." Takashi explained.

"Even if you do get to her on time, do you think that her father and parents would go for you in their family?" Keiji asked.

"Her fathers an understanding man, if he knew how happy we made each other he would call it off, I knows him." Takashi assured Keiji. They heard rustling from behind them. Little Suike was tossing and turning murmuring something.

"Is she having a nightmare?" Keiji asked.

"Yeah I'll go wake her up, she's been having a lot of nightmares recently." Takashi said getting up and heading toward the twins. The girl kept on shaking. Takashi got her up with soothing words, "Suike its me, its all right."

"NO its not, the man with the red eyes is coming after us! HE is, and, and, somebody's going to die. He's coming to kill us Takashi!" Sueke was in a small panic shaking violently, only to be calmed by Takashi's calming arms.

"I thought the shark man was coming to kill us?" Takashi asked.

"They both are they are working together! Don't you understand, Charles wants you dead, he wants too kill us too! Why won't you believe me?" Suike was nearly screaming. Takashi made a hushing sound rocking her back and forth.

"I won't let the shark man or the red eyed man ever harm you darling, it's my job to protect you. When ever they are coming we will be ready, you don't have to worry about it." Takashi said. Soothing the little girl, she was crying now.

"Some body's going to die, Takashi I don't know who though. I don't who, and I should be able to stop it. They are sent to kill us, but they will kill…somebody else, I don't know. I think we should turn back to Konoha!" Her brother Sasuke now had woken up.

"You weren't having dreams about that two too where you?" Takashi asked him, the boy shook his head and took his sister from their nanny. "No I had a dream about Charles he's planning on killing our sister, he wants all the money." Takashi wasn't reacting to what the little kids were saying.

"I know you two don't like Charles but making things up like this isn't nice. Now go back to sleep we have a long day ahead of us." Takashi ordered, the two reluctantly obeyed. Once they were sleeping again Takashi looked at Keiji.

"Kids have such active imaginations, I don't like Charles but he isn't capable of hiring out assassins and planning on killing Sylvia. I think most of this is there active imagination." Explained Takashi.

Keiji nodded, Takashi made a yawning gesture, and "I think I should get some snooze too. You look out after Zaki, she seems to need it." And with that Takashi went to bed.

**1: I got the name for the stuffed bunny from an old Jimmy Stewart movie, about a grown man who had an imaginary friend that was a 6ft white bunny, if you were wondering The bunny was named Harvey. :D **


	18. Spray Paint

Adara woke up in the morning, to her alarm, 5:00 am, what the hell was she doing up at 5. OH yes, her dear hypocrite of a brother. "You need to train, but I don't I don't have to do anything I can just lay around and watch clouds and then have everyone kissing my ass!" urgh, how could he be so!!!! She needed to talk to Keiji! Keiji always knew how to handle these situations, but no not only was he on a mission, she had to go train with her actual team Lee and Hinabi, there just oodles of fun. Not to mention Neji sensei and his amazing sense of humor! So much fun: D. she wouldn't have had to do anything to day, if it weren't for her brother confronting Neji. Then Neji was like "Adara you need too blah blah blah blah blah blahhhhhhhh" she wasn't really paying attention. She never paid attention to him, and it wasn't her fault, his voice grated on her soul. Lee and Hinabi weren't much help, Lee never said anything, and Hinabi thought Neji was like a gift from god. Adara was the only sane one, well Lee might be sane, but he never expressed anything. Fun group to go jogging with 5:00 in the morning! Adara just loved it, Yamato never made his team wake up 5:00 in the morning, but noooooooo Neji sensei felt it was imperative. Group building, Adara was sure that he would have added fun if he knew what the word meant.

Adara got up took a shower and left, as she stumbled out of the house she fell over. Oh great! She thought to herself wiping herself off, ahh the morning paper, she should lay it out, and make sure she tore up the whether section. It was the only thing Shikimaru read, and anything that caused her brother pain right now was good. She went into the kitchen and a small article caught her eye. **Poet vandal strikes Again, this time "Why the Cage bird sings by Maya Angelo!** Oh again, since her party somebody had decided to piggy back off the girls success and continue spraying. Adara had talked to Kristi it wasn't her or Chouni and it couldn't be Hinabi, it was Hinabi she would never spoil the Hyuuga name on continue something so petty, and Zaki had told her it wasn't her, so it must be some others. Tearing away the whether Adara finally went out the door.

On the second morning Yamato had to wake up, luckily everyone had a some what decent night sleep; Yamato had to yell in Kaida's ear to wake her up. She was a stone when she was sleeping. Zaki was an incredibly light sleeper surprisingly, the way she sprang up when yamato reached for her was, unnerving. She was shaking; it was warm whether, so it wasn't for that. Perfect cloud watching day, he bet Shikimaru would be happy about that reading the whether report in the morning paper. She was probably just nervous, he knew he was. Keiji was just regular; he seemed to be a happy in-between with everything. The twins were grudging about the bad food.

"Hey you two, we've talked about this. Eat your food." Takashi commanded. The two stopped complaining.

"Yeah we should all be thankful for what we have." Suike said.

"Especially cause it's somebody's last meal." Added Sasuke, his sister and Takashi shot him glares.

"What?" Asked Kaida, her brows furrowed.

"Somebody's going to die today." Sasuke continued.

Kaida opened her mouth to say something but Zaki interrupted. "Who say's somebody's going to die today?"

"Fate." Sasuke shot back; he didn't like how these people where being so rude to him, a Daimyo's son!

"You believe in fate?" Zaki scoffed.

"I take it you don't." Takashi said, looking intently at Zaki. Zaki's eyes flashed.

"Somebody's gotta take responsibility for what happens, and I'd rather it be somebody who could get punished, then some invisible force from above." Zaki said, this conversation was no longer in the dominion of the kids. It was between Takashi and Zaki, Zaki glaring at the Nanny and Takashi looking curiously at the girl.

"They say people, who don't believe in fate, have issues with making decisions." Takashi said nonchalantly.

"No we just actually put thought into what we do, because we know we have to take responsibility," Zaki voice was low and on edge. Yamato had never seen her that way. It disturbed him, and made him wonder how the Nanny could put her on Edge so much.

"Some people are born to do something for the world, why do you think we have prophesies." Takashi asked.

"Prophesies are self fulfilling, and that kind of logic sounds like Uchiha logic." Zaki spat.

"And what prey tell is Uchiha logic?"

"Logic that makes it so you are not accountable for anything," Zaki confirmed, Keiji rolled his eye brows. He hadn't really grown up in the dregs but he heard the conspiracy theories about their death. 'Itachi is innocent, it was the government,' that was a bunch of hogwash. He silently growled to himself, he couldn't take this, He missed Adara too much. Zaki continued, "You know, 'it is my destiny to be an avenger and then go and get ass raped by a pedophile' that kind of logic" Zaki looked kind of angry.

"We need to start now, and no talking it slows us down." Yamato ordered.

Neji waited for his team, rubbing his throbbing eye, He never knew Shikimaru could punch so hard. He had never seen Shikimaru that angry either. He had had fire in his eyes, like Lee or Naruto when they were talking about protecting people.

_Neji was sitting at the ramen stand talking to Ten Ten about training schedules. When he felt a tap on his shoulder turning to see who it was, his face met with a fist. _

"HEY sensei!" Adara chirped walking up towards him. Her dark brown hair tied up in a bun like her mothers. Lee was right behind her, Tall and tan his dark eyes roamed around the clearing. Hinabi stood up Neji noted more sluggishly then usual she had been quite tired.

"Hello Lee, Adara." He said, Hinabi gave them a nod. "Well be doing 5 laps around Konoha, and 7 days we will be doing 6 laps and every week doing one more lap." Neji informed, Lee kept his face stoic, Hinabi did the same. Adara's eyes bulged, her mouth was agape. "A problem miss Nara?"

"………no……..did I hear you right? 5 laps AROUND Konoha? Like the entire city?" Adara asked.

"Do I look like I'm joking Ms. Nara?" Neji asked.

"No…..that's why I'm worried."

"Let's get going, you three I want it to be done, by 8:00 when we get better I expect us to be done by 6:00." Neji told them; at this all of their eyes bulged.

"Let's get going," a low voice said, it was Lee. And so they were off, the three of them following their sensei.

Adara was swearing in her head this was all Shikimaru's fault!!!

They stopped for lunch at 3:00 in the afternoon. Yamato sat in between Takashi and Zakuro. Zakuro chewed neatly never paying attention to anything but the food. Takashi gazed across the isle examining her in a curious light. "So how long will the gorge rout take?" Takashi asked.

"If we hurry up we will be at the manor by 12:00 midnight, that's if we don't stop for any breaks in between." Yamato told the Male nanny. "I suggest we rest for the night and get there early in the morning. It will be better for everyone with a good nights sleep."

Takashi nodded in understanding, Suike pulled on his sleeves, "are we going to go through the canyon part now?" She seemed scared about that her voice rose a little.

"Yes, but everything will be all right." Takashi assured running his hands down her hair.

"This is where we are going to meat the red eyed man!" Sasuke was scared now too.

"Red eyed man?" Kaida asked she had seemed a little disturbed by these little kids preaching death. Kaida didn't know what to believe. "Didn't the Uchiha's used to have red eyes?"

"Yeah they did, if lets say hypothetically we were to run into a person with red eyes, it would either be Uchiha Sasuke, or Uchiha Itachi. And the first, what's he going to do? Emo us to death, and the second is a cool guy. I doubt he would kill any of us." Yamato spat out all of his lunch.

"Itachi Uchiha? He would be the nice one to meat? I don't know if you know this, but he killed his clan!" Yamato chocked.

"Itachi was set up by the government, they had him wipe out his clan, cause they were planning a big mutiny, like taking over the government. I mean they were running the dregs like their on little crime center to gather money, so they could finance anything if a war broke out. Itachi was the descent one and his head secured on his shoulder, too bad he couldn't off his little brother." Zaki explained.

Keiji rolled his eyes, "That's a typical conspiracy for you; Itachi is a maniac he was working under his own directions. I knew the third ok; he wasn't capable of ordering the destruction of an entire clan." Keiji said.

"Really, sure be a government puppet." Zaki spat, "stop thinking bye yourself all together."

"You are way to touchy about these subjects Zaki, you need to get over it." Keiji shot back.

"Sure yeah I always get defensive when I here people persecute an innocent man. I'm crazy like that." Zaki shot back, Keiji relaxed his shoulders.

"Even if he didn't kill his family, what he's done sense then makes him guilty." Keiji was so tired of this. Zaki always wanted to be contentious; he was sick of her, and her sarcastic comments. He was really sick of her flaunting her nicotine and alcohol addiction to everybody. She was giving their team a bad name. Keiji was sick of Yamato letting her do it. He was sick of Kaida and her eyes always talking to loud, always asking stupid questions. He was sick of it all. Zaki lit up a cigarette and before she could light it, Keiji took it out of her mouth and snapped it.

"Don't do that it's a filthy habit, it not only gives you a bad name but our team. Your making us look cheep." Keiji didn't yell but his voice had an edge to it. Zaki flinched at the word cheep.

"What is up your fucking ass today?" Zaki asked.

"Will you stop with the language; there are children around, some people want to set a good example." Keiji continued. "The way you conduct yourself, is irresponsible and horrible. It makes you look cheep, it makes our team look cheep and it makes Konoha look cheep. You always complain that people judge you from where you come from, but no it's how you act that reflects how people judge you." Keiji was fuming. "And stop spouting this Anti-government crap, it pisses me off."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Yamato shouted. He calmed himself down, Keiji looked sour, and Zaki looked like she was going to cry. "I don't want any talking for the rest of our journey do you two understand that?"

"Yes sir." Zaki whispered she then started to pack up.

It was 8:00 they had just finished their laps, Adara was heaving greatly. Right now she just wanted to go home and die slowly. Lee looked just as exhausted as her, and hinabi was practically dead. Neji looked bored. "Ok now for some sparring." He said. The whole team gasped. You can have a 30 minute break before hand. Adara crawled over to be with lee and Hinabi where they were sprawled on the ground.

"I don't want to move, for the next day or three." Adara said as she flopped on her stomach.

"I never knew the ground could be so comfortable." Lee agreed, in minutes his breath was even and features worriless as he dreamed of his beautiful bed at home. Adara looked at her other team mate. Her mouse colored hair spread out, her eyes heavy her arm right next to Adara's face. Something caught the younger Nara's eye; Red paint was on her hand and arm. Red paint, where did she see that color before?

Adara just figured it out, Red was one of the colors the vandal had used to spray paint the academy building last night. Hinabi had been awfully tired this morning.

"Hinabi," Adara said, ouch she ached all over.

"Adara as much as I prize our friendship; if you make me talk right now. I will get up the energy to kill you." Hinabi threatened.

"Go to the bath room with me." Adara said.

"Adara, I believe you can go do your bodily functions alone." Hinabi cried.

"No I can't come with me," pouted Adara, she had no dignity when she was this tired, and forcing Hinabi would be troublesome.

"I'm not wiping your ass for you."

"Pleaseeeeee."

"Fine!" Hinabi said giving in and getting up, Adara got up too. Her body protested about her movements. But curiosity always got the better of her.

Itachi waited patently for his partner to get into position. They were here to stop a Nanny and two kids from going any where, permanently. "I can't believe we have stooped this low to be doing a mercenary job for a civilian." Kisame complained.

"He's paying us a very handsome sum to kill the Nanny and two children, and Kakuza says we would get even more money if we kill the nanny then ransom the children. And Akatsuke needs money. Plus there has been a report that this is the mission the 9 tail fox container was assigned too. So we might get our jinchuurick after all,"

"Well aren't we just the luckiest fellows ever." Kisame chuckled, "Even if it isn't the 9 tail fox we can still kill Konoha shinobi." Itachi shifted a little under that comment.

"Hn"

"Ok we are getting to the canyon; Takashi, Sasuke and Suiki stay on the inside away from the ledge, and are careful. It rained a couple days ago so the cliff is very unstable." Yamato ordered. Everyone moved to their spot. Ever since the tuffle between Keiji and Zaki everything had been eerily quiet. Keiji had continued like nothing had happened, but you could see he was somewhat disturbed. And Zaki seemed to have controlled her self, for a while she looked like she was going to burst into tears. Kaida seemed more disturbed then anyone though; she seemed lost in her own thoughts frowning. Yamato decided to have a team chat after the mission was done with.

They continued along the gorge, Keiji up front. Takashi and the twins in-between Keiji and him self. Kaida was on the inside protecting their flank from the left, and Zaki on the right skimming the edge. She seemed dazzled and perplexed at the vastness below. The canyon had a bigger drop then the valley of the end or the Hokage Mountain; maybe if you put the two together they would equal this drop. Then a raging rapid would meat anybody who did fall. Zaki had a weird look on her face.

"Hey Zaki are u ok?" Yamato asked.

"Peachy!" Zaki replied shrugging.

"Yamato sensei do you see that?" Keiji asked squinting ahead. Two figures stood in the middle of the nearest path to the end. They looked like they were in cloaks waiting, but they couldn't see them well enough.

"Be on guard they look like they are just travelers. But get your weapons ready for an attack." Yamato told him. Suike rushed over and held her brother.

"Here it comes," Sasuke said his voice a merciless monotone.

"SHUT UP Sasuke" Kaida ordered, her face was flushed and she was shaking from nerves, a strong mist descended on them.

"Should we wait for them to come or just attack now?" Kisame asked.

"Attacking now would give us tactical advantage to take them by surprise." Itachi said.

"But it wouldn't be any fun, the chakra signals we are getting from there are extremely low, you have one trained Jounin, and maybe a really low level chunnin team. The nine tails is not their. I say we slack off a bit and play with them, maybe some cat and mouse games."

"Hn," was all the response from the Uchiha. The team approached them. At the front was a teen he was incredibly tall for his age, he mustn't be over 14. Behind him where the targets, two girls were on the side of him, one was about 13 and grey hair. The other looked only 6, and a Gennin. It took a while to compute that.

"Look Itachi a girl after your own reputation. She looks even younger then you. She might be 6 weren't you only 7 when you graduated from the Academy?" Kisime snickered. "This is going to be way too easy."

Yamato's eyes widened, 'KEIJI GET BACK!" He ordered. Moving to the front, doing a couple quick hand seals making small wooden baskets for the twins. "Get the Twins in here. Keiji and Kaida you stay with them and make sure they don't get them. Zaki I'm going to trust you too cover my flank, you know when to tag out." Yamato told her. "Take the one that looks like a shark, his chakras massive and his sword cuts through your chakra, Kaida power up and as soon as possible Help Zaki." Yamato was crapping his pants, AKATSUKI! No he kept saying to himself, they are just Gennin, this can't be happening to them. These people where way above their head. Yamato might be able to take Itachi, but defiantly not both at the same time. He didn't like the odds against them. He hoped to god Suike hadn't been right all along. "DON'T LOOK INTO ITACHI'S EYES."

Zaki pulled out three kunai's and flung two at Kisame he blocked it with his sword. "Come on little one give me a little fight." He teased.

"You clearly have never read Freud have you?" Zaki asked dodging the huge sword.

"Freud?"

"You know phallic imagery, guys like to carry around big equipment cause their actual package is really small. I guess why your but buddy over there is probably on top." Zaki explained dodging again, Kisame's swings got more aggressive and faster, than but still not as fast as Keiji when he berserker, Zaki had nearly got hit by the last one.

"But buddies!" The shark man yelled. The swing was to close for Zaki's comfort, she tried to step back but she was too close to the edge.

Kisame swung his huge sword to dodge Zaki had to bend over in a bridge position. While flipping herself to get her baring she said, "Oh I'm sorry, 'life partner' I don't want to offend anybody here"

Yamato kept himself steady as he gazed at Itachi's feet; Gai had taught him that trick. Breathing through his nose, clapping his feet down he made it so jets of wood struck out of the ground. He had been practicing summoning wood faster with his feet, can't see what he is going to do if he uses his feet. Itachi dodged the jets. Right now he needed to separate these two. He needed to make sure they couldn't help each other. Threat assessment, Kaida physical body could block most physical attack, you had to have an attack equal to the chakra of a rasengan. Which Kisame had, on the other hand Kaida had no defense against genjutsu what so ever. None of them had protection against that, so right now Itachi was the biggest threat. He had to get him out of there. He had to do something. Unconsciously he was dodging kunies and punches from Itachi. "Urgh," It was Zaki from behind him she seemed to have just got cut. "Ready Kaida?"

"YEAH!" The eight year old yelled, in her monster form. That towered over the shark man. She started at Kisame from the side; he dodged it to be directed toward a fire jutsu from her hands a small jet erupted from the tips of her finger, like a lizards tongue. Deflected by Kisame, he was smirking not even breaking a sweat. He had backed Zaki in a corner she had no way to deflect, swinging his sword for the final blow; it was blocked by the huge monster form. "URghhsh" came from Kaide, it had ripped her stone skin, just a little though like a bad kunai accident. Kisame on the other hand was pushed back 20 feet by the force of his chakra being reppelled, Zaki was breathing heavily. Her smoking was getting to her.

"Tag me in!" Keiji said desperately as he ran toward a position to help Kaida. Zaki nodded and ran to protect where Takashi stood holding the two impenetrable containers with the twins in them. He held them so if anybody tried to attack his body would be in the way. Keiji wasn't going berserk! It made him angry, frustrated. Control was good but right now he had to though himself into battle. Not being able to feel anything would be perfect right now, but then he wouldn't be able to think so he might start attacking his friends. GOD DAMM IT, IT WOULD be so helpful to be able to control himself if he knew his protector. But he didn't, he didn't he was useless. He threw several Kunia at Kisame, getting dodged but Kaida took the opportunity to land a punch on him. It sent the man flying knocking down some tree's. Kisame gave a harsh laugh, "Itachi she has talent, Konoha hasn't set their standards any lower sense the war."

"Don't look over here; he's trying to trick you to fall into their trap!" Yamato said, fuck he couldn't keep this up very much longer, their best action would be to take the cases and start running for the woods as fast as they can. He evaded Itachi's attack but it was hard sense he couldn't see his face. "ARGHH!" Yamato gasped, a kunai had just entered his arm.

"SENSEI!" Kaida screamed looking over at Yamato to see if he was all right, but innocent blue eyes, met a cold red stare.

"What is it?" Hinabi snapped as they staggered to the bath room on the training grounds.

Adara leaned on the counter for support of her aching arms. "Your arm it's all red, with paint." She pointed out, Hinabi had the sleeve of her kimono go down slightly.

"So?" Hinabi spat.

"So, you're the vandal who keeps spray painting public buildings! Why in the name would you keep doing that? It was a one time thing." Adara panicked, what if she got caught, and they were all blamed?

"Its…it's a stress reliever," Hinabi shrugged.

"stress….stresss? what?" Adara couldn't believe her ears.

"You wouldn't understand," Hinabi said.

"NO that's why I'm asking you to describe why?" Adara told her, Hinabi leaned her aching bones on the counter with Adara; she seemed tense and brooding about something.

"For the first time in my life, people are paying to what I'm saying." Hinabi said shaking her hands at herself. "I mean my dad talks to me, so does Neji, but nobody cares about what I say in return. The only person who has ever listened to me truly, has been Hinata. And She's more afraid of our father then I am. Father doesn't care what we say; he only cares what Neji thinks. Neji only cares what Neji thinks. At least dad's nicer to me then he is to Hinata. He doesn't want her as the heir; he doesn't want me as an heir. He wants Neji, Neji wants Neji. Everyone WANTS NEJI! Do you know what it's like constantly being compared to genius?" Hinabi asked. 'Oh you have no idea,' Adara thought as she looked at Hinabi who looked desperate.

Hinabi continued, "That poem I wrote on the wall, my sister showed that to me when I was young, by a poet I had never heard off, that's when I realized Hinata was the best thing for our clan. Hinata knows how to connect to people like no other person I know and even though I'm resorting to petty crime to be heard. I'm helping her. People are reading what is on that wall, what is in the paper, and they are paying attention. They are paying attention to our message." Hinabi's eyes were a blaze with passion. She really believed in what she was doing.

"I do understand how you're feeling a bit; I mean I constantly get compared to Shikimaru, it sucks, and you're right, sometimes to be heard you have to act out." Adara conceded. "Just if you do get caught, don't blame any of the rest of us." Hinabi gave her a week smile.

The sky turned red and the clouds started to rush past her in a dazed way. Like she was traveling forward and back ward at the same time, she couldn't move her feet. Finally she stopped, she was in a UN familre meadow, and the grass wasn't green but grey. A dull ruse color started soaking the ground, Kaida looked around to find a source. In the middle of a meadow piles and piles of dead bodies, kunia's, shuriken swords stuck from them, like a person would skewer a suckling pig. One of the bodies was still moving. Flocks of crows flew over the bodies like vultures waiting for their prey. They circled down ward and landed on the body that was trying to movie, and they started poking at him ferociously. An agonizing scream filled the air around her, but stopped almost abruptly as it began, a raven hopped up on another body holding a familure green eye ball. Kaida couldn't take it any longer she started running away from the meadow as fast as possible. She needed to run and keep on running, never wanting to look back. But she tripped on the road, over another body struggling to get away. It still made noises it was alive. She flipped them over so she could see their face.

The man didn't look like she knew him, but that didn't matter any more she needed to do something to stop his intestines from escaping his body like they were doing right now. Think think, she was taught how to do this. She should know how to fix him. Kaida tried to summon chakra, "Stay conscious its ok I can fix, I can fix. Don't stop breathing!" She screamed. Suddenly the man was no longer a stranger but Yamato sensei, then he was Keiji and then finally Zaki was there her hair sprawled in a pool of blood. Her eyes opened, "If only you weren't such a kid, you could have saved us. You wouldn't have made that mistake." The dying Zaki said.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll never make the mistake again, just BREATH!!!" Kaida screamed her longs out as she sobbed little fast tears from her eyes. The body disappeared as a flock of crows descended upon Kaida, forming the man she knew as Itachi Uchiha. They were suddenly in the valley again surrounded by the dead. They were moaning for her to help them. "STOP THIS!" The girl cried looking around closing her eyes shaking her head, this wasn't happening it was all a dream, she was home. It was all a dream!

"No," the man said sternly, "this is what being a shinobi really is, it's about death, it's about killing or be killed. Are you ready for that, cause I can tell you right now, if your not." His hand gestured to the destruction before them. "This is what's going to happen." Kaida was closing her eyes shaking her head still crying,

"no, no, no, no," She was in denial.

"You're going to make a mistake, and you are going get your team killed, are you ready to handle that responsibility, cause if your not. Back out right now. Little miss, if you want to be a true shinobi. You need to grow up."

"Ok, ok, just make it stop! Make it stop! LEAVE ME ALOOOOOONNNEEEEEE!" Kaida shrieked.

It all happened in a second in Keiji's eyes; Kaida looked over to check on sensei, and then screamed her body turning back into a little girl, The shark man took the initiative to strike her in the air and send her body flying towards the edge, she seemed unconscious, the contents of her pack flying over the edge of the abyss. Their owner soon following with them.


	19. in over their heads

Adara kicked at a tree stump in the training ground, the only thing keeping her going was pretending that stump was her brother. Kick him in the face, the leg, the nads, stupid ass!! Who was the guy? He always thought he was above everything! Above her, every body thought he was above her. You always heard about the great Shikimaru, but nobody even knew he had a sister! Wasn't that her whole generation's problem? She thought thinking on Hinabi, Neji, Shikimaru, Chouji, Naruto, they were all born to a generations of Hero's, and a generation practically destined to be known through out history. Everybody would forget the people who came after them; nobody gave a dam about the people who built the brick road, just the people who cut down the obstacles in its path.

She bet the second Hokage really had to deal with that crap, everyone credits the first for founding Konoha, but if you actually looked in the history books the second was the one who actually made and passed the laws that made the fire country a stable government. But nooooo it was all about the first, always the first. FUCK THE FIRST! First fuck em their arrogant fucking bastards.

Everything in her body ached; it was like the whole of Konoha was pressing down on her. She hoped Keiji was having fun on his week away from this fucking place, he probably was.

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Keiji couldn't do anything as he saw Kaida take a fall into the gorge; lucky for him Zaki acted quicker flinging herself towards the falling child.

Yamato couldn't think about Kaida right now, it was the only opening he would ever get with Itachi. As the Uchiha watched slightly the eight year old he just killed go falling of a gorge, Yamato stuck his kunai in his gut. Itachi looked at him surprised, but Yamato didn't look him in the eye, he concentrated on the bastard's stomach, twisting the knife and digging it deeper. Itachi choked a little. His shark partner looked at them.

"Itachi!" He cried in surprised as Itachi inspected the blood on his stomach, Yamato pulled out and kicked his chest. Kisame also took advantage of the distraction though, slashing grandly at Keiji and nailing him right in the chest, making a slash up to his right shoulder sending the boy flying into a tree. Yamato had to check on Keiji he looked hurt, nothing he could do with Kaida now. He let Kisame get his partner in his arms. The Jounin looked at the shark man who was helping Itachi off the ground. He caught some of the conversation "Itachi, are you insane, to use such a strong technique on a Gennin, then letting yourself be fatally wounded. What has gotten into you, we have enough money anyway, and let's get you back to head ops." Kisame muttered to his raven haired team mate. The shark man and the raven haired man then disappeared. Keiji didn't have time to think. He had to see where his team mates were. Staggering up, Pain shot through his body. He had never experienced this before, usually he was berserk he couldn't feel a thing, and then he would pass out before the pain began. Why wasn't it coming now? Why when he needed it did his animal protector not show it self? His grandfather always told him it would come in due time, but if it wasn't showing up now, could he ever really on him self! Finally staggering to the gorge side he saw Zaki clutching the side of the canyon one hand had caught the limp body of their other team mate. Zaki was groaning.

"Help me," she huffed her body was being stretched by the limp eight year old she was holding with her right hand. The grey haired girl looked down at the little one she was holding onto desperately. "Come on Kaida, I can't hold onto you by myself. You got to wake up come on babe." Zaki pleaded with the girl. Keiji grabbed her arm. Trying to pull them up, "DON'T! if you do I'll lose Kaida." Zaki told him.

"Yamato Sensei!!!" Keiji yelled, he could help he had too!

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Itachi was fading out as Kisame put him on the ground. He didn't know what came over him; he had just gotten so angry and irrational at the thought that after all Konoha put him through as a child, they would do it to another. His jutsu wouldn't kill the girl if they got her to a good hospital in time. But it really wouldn't matter; she had fallen into the gorge. To his surprise Kisame didn't start dressing his wounds, "What are you doing Kisame?" He asked.

"I'm making sure that we finish the job," His shark partner replied. He lifted up his huge sword and smacked it into the ground. Itachi felt the chakra rushing past them, "I'm doing what we should have done in the first place, throwing them all off the gorge.

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Yamato started running towards his Gennin before a he heard cracking, the gorge started cracking. He had to stop and make the roots of the tree's bigger fast, or the whole gorge would fall in. "Takashi, take the twins and get to the forest!" He yelled. Yamato assessed the situation. The crack was about 40 feet away from him and HIS Gennin were about 20 feet away, the skill it was taking to make the roots to move he would have to be perfectly still. "Keiji pull the other two up, as fast as possible, I don't think I can hold this cliff any longer!" Yamato screamed at them, Faster, the roots have to grow faster, But these were hundred year old trees, there roots wouldn't move as fast as younger trees would, He was limited in his wood growing abilities in the tree he wanted to grow. He wasn't as good as the first he couldn't just summon wood out of no where.

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Adara smacked the wood once more, after you got past the exhaustion you could really get down to work, she was working on empty, but Adara would not stop something because it was troublesome. She wasn't so talented, Neji said she needed work with hand to hand combat; she would keep working on her hand to hand combat. She needed to do something better then Shikimaru. And the only thing the 14 year old could think of that she could possibly surpass his genius was her work ethic. So right now as she kicked the log Adara worked on her work ethic. She hated her brother for being so talented.

Somebody who wasn't Neji had been watching her in the trees for about the past 7 minuets, at first she thought they were just some person walking there way to a different part of the ground and decided to watch, but they hadn't left yet. The presence was familure, she didn't want to call them out just yet, and she wanted them to come out of the clearing. Adara had to stop and catch her breath; this was getting too much for her. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw two kunai aimed at her back.

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Keiji tried to grip Zaki's hands and pull her up but she was too heavy, his shoulder was bleeding too much, he could barely feel his hands. Zaki eyes were wild wondering why she felt herself tipping. "What's happening?" She asked frantically.

"The cliff is going to tumble down into the gorge any time soon, come on Zaki can't you lift yourself up with your chakra?" Keiji begged.

"I need two hands or feet, I've never done anything with just one hand, not with earth anyway!"

"Well Try!" Keiji was almost in tears, he tried to bring her up, where was his strength going?!

"I have an idea Keiji, but you got to back up, and catch Kaida ok?" Zaki's voice had suddenly gotten very calm.

"Ok," Keiji waited her to explain.

The cliff took another lurch towards the direction gravity wanted, "I CAN'T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER GUYS, COME ON!" roared Yamato.

"Don't ask question just do!" Zaki said, so Keiji backed up and waited for what ever was going to come next.

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Yamato couldn't hold out much longer, he had to make the roots bigger and fatter at a more accelerated rate then he ever had to before. When he saw Kaida's lifeless body spring up and Keiji catch her, he let go. Sprinting over to the two and grabbing them to pull them away from the edge. He let the rest of the cliff tumble towards the abyss. Yamato checked Kaida, her pulse was distressingly slow, if they didn't get her to a trained medic professional in the next 5 hours she would be dead, they could reach there destination by then, if they ran all the way there, but the question was could Keiji and Zaki keep up. Yamato looked around a thought came to him "Where's Zaki?"

Keiji was frantically trying to move toward the falling edge. "SHE FELL; WE GOT TO GO GET HER SHE FELL!" He cried almost throwing himself after the crumbled pieces of earth. Yamato grabbed his collar and slammed him into the ground.

"We can't help her, Kaida's in critical condition, and you lost a lot of blood. If we don't get Kaida to a hospital she'll die too!" Yamato felt heartless saying those words; he didn't know why as a Anbu captain he wasn't nearly so stressed if a team mate died. But these weren't just team mates these were HIS GENNINS. He had to do what he could.

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Adara dodged the Kunia's and rolled behind the training log. WHAT THE HELL! She thought to herself, she didn't have enough chakra to do this. She couldn't see the person who was attacking her; she defiantly didn't have enough chakra to do this. She sensed the chakra again to see if she could place it, god dam it, it was so familure. She couldn't place it. Taking out the smoke bomb and lighting it, she needed distraction. Going out the smoke at a North West angle, the attacker attacked from the north, if they had been studying her for the past 7 minuets they would probably assume that she would come at them directly. Throwing 3 smoke bombs to the south making it look like she was trying to escape rather then fight would hopefully confuse who ever was attacking her.

Adara was slammed into a tree and hands were on her neck. She looked up on the attacker, he wasn't familure. "Your brother thinks he's so smart doesn't he!" The man demanded, once the man talked Adara Recognized him, he was the man who had almost caught them at the file room. She started trying to struggle against him in retaliation he started to crush her windpipe.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She lied; the pressure increased.

"Of course you don't, you are just a Gennin, but I don't care if you understand what I'm saying," The man's slick voice pored over her like malaises, to sweet for its own good. "I want you to tell your brother about this, tell him I know what he's doing and I'll stop him at any cost, and if he so much as mentions what he stole to that pathetic excuse of a person called jinchurrikun, I'll kill you. He's not afraid for his own life; he knows how to handle himself." Adara could barely breathe any more; her thoughts started getting blurry too. "But when his poor little sister might be at stake he loses it. Why do you think he punched your sensei?"

No, No Shikimaru shouldn't be subjected to what ever mistake she had made. But this man wouldn't believe her if she told him the truth. She couldn't get his hands off of her neck by force; he was too strong for her. Collecting up her saliva Adara looked the man right into his ugly eyes, "You make one mistake," She then hawked a luggie right in his face, "I'm not that easily intimidated." The roots member was taken by surprise, he let her go. Taking this advantage Adara crouched down and pulled out a kunai of her own she cut through the tendons in his knee, making him fall over. She knew in a real fight she wouldn't be able to win in a fight, her only choice is to flee. Adara started running towards home as quick as possible. But she wasn't running quick enough; one kunai nailed her right in the shoulder.

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Keiji was getting angry; he could feel it coming on, finally. It might have just been loss of blood but his berserker was coming on, and it was aimed right towards Yamato sensei. How could he just leave Zaki here? Yamato sensei was still hurriedly patching up Keiji. It had only been 2 minuets since he decided to not look for Zaki, but he did decide that he was going to patch up Keiji before hand, it was a crude patch even Keiji could tell. But every 2 stitches or so he went to go check on Kaida, "I'm finished, it's really bad and it wont last longer then a day, but if we start moving now, we can get both you two to the hospital. I'll carry the twins and Takashi, you carry Kaida." Yamato ordered. Keiji growled, the rushed Jounin stopped in his track that wasn't a good sign.

"We have to go find Zaki!" Growled Keiji he pushed Yamato. Yamato slammed him into the grown.

"Listen here Keiji, I know what happening, but you have to stop it and help me with Kaida. Zaki made her choice; she wouldn't want you to risk Kaida's life for hers." Yamato told him. And just like that the pain returned and Keiji knew what he had to do. He was ashamed of himself for loosing control.

"Give me Kaida." He told his Jounin. Yamato looked at the male nanny who had remained quit and had been watching for anything that might attack the basket the twins where in. Yamato strapped the baskets onto his back and carried Takashi in a firefighters pose. Keiji did the same with Kaida.

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Sylvia sat in wait in her bedroom thinking everything over. Charles was nice, he wasn't, and well he didn't exceptionally love. But he tried, he always made sure she was well provided for and she got what ever she wanted. He seemed too really to care for her. He was handsome too; his dark hair wavy hair and ice blue eyes would have any girl melt. He was distinguished and very graceful. There was so much to love about Charles, but Sylvia just couldn't. She went through all the things that made Charles a perfect man, but he was just so, well he wasn't who she wanted. The daimyo's daughter felt dismayed that she had fallen for a poor commoner, not just the fact that he was poor, but the fact he was help. A nanny for goodness sake! A very unmanly profession, And he wore that stupid cowboy hat every where. He didn't know even know how to ride a horse! How ridiculous is that. He was average looking and nothing special. That was a lie, Takashi was very special to her, and if he were here right now she would be flinging herself into his arms begging him to elope with her. But he had been sent away by father; Sylvia didn't understand why her father felt the need to have the twins go to Konoha on such short notice. The door opened behind her it was one of her maids. "Time to get ready miss." The words hung on Sylvia's heart like irons.

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Adara got the first aid kit out of the kitchen cabinet. She had seen her mother do this enough to know how, it just was a lot harder doing it yourself. Adara got the needle out and started to try to thread it. Her brother came stomping in, his eyes widened in alarm as he saw her; in response Adara rolled her eyes, "training accident dumb ass!' She said.

"Why didn't you get somebody else to patch it up?" He asked his voice high with anxiety.

"You've seemed to have had a rough day," Adara noted, purposely avoiding the question, the urgency to rub her nose was absolutely horrible.

"Well I was having a fine day until I came in and saw my little sister, with a kunai in her arm! And that's a deep cut do you need to go to the hospital?!" Shikimaru asked.

Adara made sure not to rub her nose, "it was a training accident, sensei said it wasn't that bad of a wound, plus its good training for when we are out on missions and no medic is near by to cure us, we need to know how to do simple stuff like taking kunia's out of our arm." That sounded like Neji, and sure as punch Shikimaru believed her. "And don't go punching him again, seriously, I saw the bruise and it makes him act weird around me. So just act as though nothing happening." Finally taking one deep breath Adara took out the kunai and the blood started to rush out. Shikimaru went to stop it, but didn't cause of Adara's glare. "I can handle this, thanks for the thought though." She could see that Shikimaru was chilled from her voice.

"Fine god, I won't get into trouble for getting the kitchen bloody then." Shikimaru left the kitchen. Another body entered the front door, judging by the plop of the shoes it was dad.

"Hey dad," Shikimaru said from the living room.

"We still have cake from the other day?" Her father responded.

"In the kitchen." Was the response. Adara started stitching the wound together, before her father could even ask what had happen, she finished his sentence. "Training accident, everything is ok." She snapped. She hadn't looked her dad in the face yet.

"Why are you doing it by yourself?" He asked. "When your BROTHER! Is in the next room," That was meant to be a hint to Shikimaru to help me.

"Because my sensei wants us to learn how to do it ourselves." Adara clenched her teeth, her agitation with the two men in her family could only grow to so much before she snapped.

"How'd it happen?" Her father asked.

"I told you training accident."

"How did the accident happen?" Her father clarified.

"I was sparing with a friend and didn't dodge it in time."

"Was it Keiji? He's the one who did this to you wasn't he?" Her father accused. Adara looked like she had just been slapped.

After a long pause of Adara glaring at her father in disbelief she swallowed what she actually wanted to say and said something else. "First of all Keiji's off on a mission, he's not even in Konoha. But you wouldn't know that cause you never listen to me." Adara stated, she was so sick of her dad always putting Keiji down. "And second of all, I resent the fact that you automatically assume its Keiji that screws up. You're more likely to stab me with a kunai then Keiji is. And just because he's not the brightest and doesn't get things as fast as you doesn't mean you can look down on him. Keiji works to be as good as he is, UN like some people in this family, some people have to actually work to get things, and it doesn't make them worse of a person." Adara seethed, her father looked confused and was probably going to give an ignorant reply that would just piss her off more. "You know what I'm going up stairs to my room; I don't want to be disturbed."

As Adara marched up the stairs one thought crossed her mind, she was in way over her head.

----------------------------- ----- ------ ------------------- --------- --- --------------------------

They had arrived at their destination in 3 hours which was amazing, but after Keiji had given Kaida to a nurse to be helped he collapsed of exestuation, Yamato put Takashi down and let the twins out of the box.

"What just happened Takashi?" Screamed the girl, she was crying as she rushed into the male nanny's arms. The little boy Sasuke came out and did the same thing as his sister. Takashi hung on to the twins like they were oxygen.

"Oh little ones," He murmured softly as he kissed their cheeks. Takashi then looked at Yamato "thank you, I'm so sorry, but thank you. I should have never, I shouldn't have asked to go the gorge rout I had no idea Charles wanted us dead." Takashi was about to go on, but Yamato stopped him and sat down.

"Wake me up when the doctors come to tell news of the two." Yamato said as he sank into an uncomfortable waiting chair and closed his eyes.

"But Takashi weren't there supposed to be 3 Gennin?" Suike asked. Takashi shushed her quickly. The last thing Yamato thought was that he was in way over his head.

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**Hey everyone, I'm sorry it took so long, its jut I wanted to get this one just right. I know I downplayed Yamato's ability a little, but it was for story purposes I apologies. I would like a lot of feed back on this chapter because it's a turning point in the series. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter as much as I had fun writing it. :D**


	20. coming home

Sylvia walked into her fathers office, she had decided all ready she was not going to marry Charles. Today was their marriage day, she had asked Charles to meet her before the wedding to talk about their life together. She was in her wedding kimono all ready, but who really cared that it was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding? Walking in the closeted room she saw her strikingly handsome fiancé. His square chin and high cheek bones made him look almost ethereal. "Hello darling," his smooth voice purred.

"Hello Charles," Sylvia replied with in difference.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me dear?" He asked, Sylvia sat down behind her fathers' desk.

"I'm not marrying you Charles." The words flew from her mouth easier then she had anticipated. Charles looked startled for a minuet before regaining his composure.

"Why do you say that, my dear Sylvia?" His voice was still that composed purr that they had started the conversation with.

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"Takashi quick!" Suike pulled at the robes of her nanny at the hospital. "You have to go save Sylvia!"

"The wedding doesn't start for another hour honey, let's just sit here and see if Kaida's ok." Takashi's guilt washed over him, if he hadn't been so selfish those kids, that girl wouldn't have died, and the little one wouldn't be in the emergency room. He wouldn't have to watch over a disheveled Jounin. This was his entire fault, he didn't deserve Sylvia.

"Charles will force her! If you don't come and stop him. He's ruthless; he was the one who did this to us! He was the one who killed that girl." Sasuke said his voice dead pan, over the years of being the nanny he knew this, suike could predict the future, and sasuke could see why it happened. If sasuke said Charles was the one who hired the akatsuki it was probably true, but just because he believed them doesn't mean other people would believe them.

"Please Takashi, sitting here and doing nothing will get nothing done, let's go find Sylvia!" Suike pleaded. The kids were right, he should go find Sylvia.

--------------------------------------------

Sylvia stared at the man in front of her; he was staring at her right back. "I don't love you Charles, you and I both know that."

"When has love had any thing to do with our relationship?"

"That's why I'm not marrying you; it wouldn't be fair to either of us."

Charles started laughing manically, "Is it the Nanny?"

Sylvia shifted a little in her seat pointing her face in defiance she replied, "And if it is?"

"You will be bitterly disappointed," Was the chuckled reply. He started creeping toward the seat she sat on.

"Why do you say that?" Her voice was rising in worry.

"Because he's dead he is not coming back." Charles stated. He was only a foot away from her.

"I don't believe you" Sylvia stated she wasn't going to fall into his lies, Takashi couldn't be dead. This was just Charles lying to her so she would marry him in an hour.

"Your little infatuation is getting on my nerves dear Sylvia."

-- - - --------------- -- ---------------------------- -- ----

"TAKASHI!" Sylvia's hand maid charlotte cried startled from her needle work.

"Charlotte, where's Sylvia?" Takashi asked.

The girl smiled at him "trying to save the misses from a fate worse then death?"

Takashi rolled his eyes; Charlotte had always been a romantic, "yes, now where is she."

"She decided to have a talk with her fiancé in her father's office," The maid stated going back to her sewing. Takashi kissed her on the cheek.

"You are too much Charlotte," he then rushed out of the room.

The maid giggled before yelling after him, "I hope you find her Takashi."

Takashi was running at full force to get to the other side of the mansion, he had no idea what would happen if he found them. But he had to; it burned in his blood he had to.

----------- -------- - -- --- - ------------ --- --- ---- -- -- -

"Sylvia, why ruin your life with a nanny, you have so much going for you." Charles leaned both hands on the arms of the chair, and smelt Sylvia's neck, he was too close for comfort.

"May I remind you that a gentleman would keep his distance from a lady." Sylvia stopped breathing and closed her eyes; Charles took in the scent of her hair.

"Why do I need to keep my distance from my future bride?" Charles asked, stepping if possible closer.

"I'm n-not going to marry you," Sylvia's confidence was slowly leaking away as the man brushed her neck with his lips, she didn't like this, and she didn't like this.

"Ah but you are, your little nanny is dead." He laughed kissing her neck again.

"You lie." Her voice was a whisper; this made Charles throw his head back and laugh.

"No I tell the truth, I hired some rouge nin to take care of him," Charles leaned over to kiss her cheek, "they are going to get paid double if they take out those little brats."

--- -- - ---------- ----- -------- - ----------------

Takashi leaned towards the door, he didn't like what he saw, he saw Charles leaning over Sylvia whispering into her ear and kissing her neck. He couldn't see Sylvia's face. Her body wasn't inviting Charles in but he didn't want to disturb them if Sylvia didn't mind. Then Charles through his head back and laughed, "No I tell the truth, I hired some rouge nin to take care of him," Takashi could see Sylvia's face, it was flushed and nearly in tears. The man leaned closer and kissed Sylvia's perfect cheek. "They are going to get paid double if they take out those little brats."

That was it, Takashi burst through the door. Charles stood up to see who had burst in. Before he could even scream for the guards, Takashi decked him in the face, flinging him back towards the wall knocking the bastard unconscious.

"Takashi!" Cried Sylvia, she flung her arms around him. "I thought you had died, oh god!" She sobbed into his shirt. Takashi hugged her back just as fiercely.

------- --- - ----------------- -- - - -- - - - -

Yamato was woken up by a women yelling, "MY BABIES YOUR OK!" it was the twins mother and father, followed by Takashi and a very pretty girl under his arm. The twins ran to their mother and hugged her.

Their father, a very handsome man looked at Yamato, "Are you the Jounin in charge of protecting them?" his gravely voice asked.

"Yes," was all of the replay Yamato could muster. "How's my team?"

"I just checked, there both fine, they might need a little rest tho." The Daimyo replied. "I don't know what to give you to thank you for this."

"You could give him one of the diamond minds you own daddy, its not like you don't have enough to spare." Sasuke told his father, his mother slapped him on the head.

"Don't talk about your fathers business like that." She scolded.

"If you could just send troops out to look for a girl, who is about 14'sh long grey hair, Konoha Head band, hazel eyes, will have cigarettes on her, names Nariko Zakuro." Yamato said, "She's MIA."

"Said and done anything else?"

"I would like to see the other members of my team." Yamato told him.

"Down the corridor to the left."

Yamato got up of the chair and headed towards the room. When he got there, he saw Keiji in the closest bed near the door; he was looking at Kaida worried. Her eyes were open but they were just staring at the window. "She hasn't said anything since she woke up." Keiji whispered.

"Hello Kaida," Yamato said trying to gain her attention. The 8 year old turned her head and blinked, she turned back toward the window.

"They sent men looking out for Zaki." Yamato couldn't muster up the strength to say body.

"When can we go help find her…?" Keiji couldn't say body either.

"Tomorrow, today you two need to rest." Yamato told them, the room seemed unbearably calm.

"How much time will we waist looking for her body?" Kaida spoke up saying the word the other 2 couldn't. She still didn't look at the two though.

"We don't know she's dead!" Keiji yelled, Zaki couldn't be dead, "you said yourself Zaki was invincible."

Kaida finally looked over at the two men on her team, "well I was wrong wasn't I?"

Yamato felt that he needed to tell these two that Shinobi die every day, it was part of their life, but he couldn't not just yet, not when there was a slight chance she was still alive. "You two need your rest, go back to sleep." Was the words he used to end that conversation.

---- - - - - - - ------ - --- ------------ ---- --- ------

The next day, the three of them looked endlessly by the gorge, never saying anything except when they were starting on a different path to search for her.

Keiji kept going, he would search every nook and cranny for a sign, never stopping, yamato assumed never thinking. He seemed like he didn't want to think about it like if he did she would die. He was defiantly in denial.

Kaida's reaction was more surprising; she didn't put any effort into looking. Like she had resigned herself to the fate of Zaki's death all ready. She had an indifference to her, which was usually saved for the ninja's who had survived all the war. She seemed to think looking was a waist of time. Yamato was startled out of his trance; by Keiji he just gave a little yelp.

"What is it Keiji?" snapped Kaida. Keiji looked like he just seen a ghost. His yellow eyes were wide as he looked straight at Yamato, and held up Zaki's head band.

----- ------------- ----------- --- -- - ------------------- -

It started raining when they got an hour or so away from Konoha. They hadn't found her, the only evidence they had of Zaki was her headband. Yamato didn't know what to say to comfort them, he was to busy thinking about other things.

A ninja who leaves his friend is worse then trash. That's what they had taught him all his life, he didn't just leave a friend he left a student. But did he have a choice, Kaida had been dying and Keiji couldn't have held of much longer. He knew right away he would be stripped of rank maybe disgraced. How could one let a student die? Just like that? Yamato was worse then trash. Keiji and Kaida deserved a better teacher, one like Gai or Kakashi, they never had to think about this kind of thing. Yamato wasn't fit to be a sensei. He had thought that from the very beginning didn't he? He had thought he couldn't teach these kids, but he had. And now one of them had died….NO might be dead. Might be there was still hope wasn't there?

They three headed towards the hokage tower soaking wet, they were met at the door with a somber Shizune in front of them. "We heard," she said, Yamato closed his eyes in shame. Shizune looked at the soaking wet genins to his left. "The hokage just wants to see your sensei you two may go home." It was a soft motherly tone it didn't help the look of despair on the children's faces. Kaida nodded and started running towards her home, Keiji didn't seem so hasty, he looked up into the clouds and started walking in the opposite direction of his house.

"Do I have to wait?" Yamato was surprised at himself, after hours of not talking his voice was unusually calm. He could feel Shizune's pitied filled eyes on him.

"No she can see you know."

Yamato walked in the door, the hokage had both hands to her mouth. "Sit down." She told him gesturing towards the chair in front of her desk.

He shook his head, "no sense in ruining the upholstery." Was his reply.

"I want to hear what happened from the very beginning of the journey." The hokage ordered.

Yamato told her everything, from the very beginning chat about which path to take, about Suike's dreams, about how they had run into Kisame and Itachi, telling her how he assessed the situation and how he was to late in remembering to catch Zaki, how he had let her fall. And instead of looking for her, or trying to save her, he decided to continue the mission. "I guess you want me to be sending in my resignation by tomorrow?" Was the question he ended with.

"Why do you ask that, Yamato?" barked the 5th, Yamato was too stunned to answer. "We have had Squads of Jounin try to take on those two Akatsuki and none of those squads came out so lucky. The fact that all of you didn't die is a shock. Any body in your position would have done the same thing; I'm not going to punish you for cutting your losses. The event not only showed your leadership ability but the fact that those two no how to deal with such situations. I'll let you three have a couple day's vacation, but as soon as those two days are up I want you practicing for the Chunnin exams. No exceptions. Now let me remind you that until we find the Childs body we can not declare her dead, she is MIA. So you three do not get 2 weeks morning period. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and leave my office." Her voice was harsh and her words harsher, but it was truth she spoke. They had to move on.

"Good bye Hokage sama."

------- - - - - --------------- - -- - - - -

Kaida was at her house, what happened with Itachi still was prevalent in her mind. He was right, she needed to grow up. Her child ness had Zaki die, it was all her fault. But she couldn't let that ruin her; she just had to get rid of her child hood. Grow up would be the best plan for her, but right now she just wanted to sleep in her bed. She would start remaking her life tomorrow, today was time for rest.

She walked quietly in the door, but her sneaking in was interrupted by her mothers cry. "MY BABY GIRL YOU'RE BACK!" She cried running over and hugging her soaking wet daughter. Usually Kaida loved being called a baby girl, she loved being cuddled and spoiled like she usually was. But today she just wanted to rest. "What's wrong baby?" her mother asked. Kaida smiled weekly at her mother.

"Nothing mom, I'm just tired that's all." She told her mother.

"well no wonder pumpkin, your soaking. I'll make you some Mac and Cheese I know how you love that." Kin stood up starting to busy herself in the kitchen.

"No thanks mom, I'm not hungry. But I am super tired could I just you know get my jama's on and go too bed?" Kaida asked her mother, Kins eye brows tented with worry, her little dragon was always hungry.

"Oh ok dear." Was all the mother could come up with as a reply. She watches her normally perky girl slouch around the house and change. Then the girl laid herself on the left side of the mattress and go to bed.

Her husband Lido walked in 15 minuets after her daughter came in. Lido was about to say something really loud before Kin held her fingers to her lips. "Kaida's home and she is sleeping."

Lido raised his eye brows, "Oh, ok, how did the mission go?"

"That's what worries me, she didn't say anything about the mission, didn't even eat anything, she just went straight to bed." Kin admitted wringing her hands in worry.

"I'll go talk to her darling," Lido said, he snuck into there bedroom. It was such a small house, he his wife and Kaida had to share one bed, but nobody ever minded. His little dragon wasn't asleep he could tell. "Dragon," he cooed, the girl opened her eyes once before closing them again. "Dragon I know you're not asleep, what happened that got you so upset?"

Kaida got up and hugged her dad, trying to hold back tears. "One of my, team mates, she fell off this huge cliff during battle, and its all my fault cause she fell trying to save me and," the girl gave a little hiccup, "and now she's dead and I couldn't help her." Lido hugged his little princess closer to him, this was his entire fault. When Kaida had came home one day talking about how she wanted to be a shinobi, that they were so cool. Lido had looked around for information to get her into the academy, but they didn't have enough money, so he got his Cousin Moses to tutor her. And she had excelled at everything, he was so proud of her. So when the Gennin test had come up he was the one who had persuaded Kin to let there daughter join. He had argued that a Gennin team would have easy mission, and it would help her in her dream. He had pushed little Kaida into this life.

"I'm so sorry honey," Lido said hugging his daughter; she was hiccupping into his shirt trying to hold back the tears. "You don't have to go back if you don't want to." Lido told his daughter.

Her blue eyes looked at his, Lido continued, "you don't have to continue being a shinobi if you don't want to, if you're not loving this, you can do something else. You're still so young you still have options in your life." Kaida looked at him confused.

"Just because I'm a bad shinobi doesn't mean I should quit." Kaida looked mortified at his suggestion, "it just means I need to grow up faster, need to train more. I just need to be more professional."

"Your 8 love, you have a long way to go before you have to worry about being a grown up." Lido reassured her.

"You don't understand dad." Kaida said separating them and shaking her head. Lido stroked her hair.

"What don't I understand dragon?"

"The fact that being a shinobi is about protecting the people you care about, and even if you fail once, there is still other people out there that need protecting, I have j=to just work harder, I'm not giving up. I just need to stop being treated like a baby." Kaida said, she seemed so old.

Lido shook his head, those words reminded him to much of what the fourth hokage said to him. "Those words sound like the fourth hokage's." He said to his daughter.

"You knew the fourth hokage?" She asked she seemed a little less upset now.

"Yes this was ooh about 4 years before I met your mother, I was lurking around the holy Mitsu places when I found an old tomb with flickien spells I guess what they used to call them. They call them Jutsu's know but back over two thousand years ago they called them spells, and this one had how to seal a daemon. At the time I had no country alliances, I was a wonderer. But the 9 tailed fox had just wiped out the entire whirl pool country, it was heading towards Konoha, I had never been to Konoha and I hated blood shed. I still do I am a pacifist. So I told the 4th hokage how the Jutsu or spell worked, and what he had to pay to make it work for him. He told me that his job was to protect as many people as possible, not just his people, but every one. I guess they teach you that too hu?" Her father said. Kaida looked at her simple short father differently. Her belly rumbled he gave a throaty laugh. "Just because you want to be all grown up now doesn't mean you don't need something to eat, come on your mothers making mac and cheese."

- - --------0 - - - -- - - - -- ---

Adara sighed as she looked out the window at the rain outside, she hated the rain, it meant everyone was home and inside. Shikimaru and her father was playing Chouji as her mother flipped through business magazines. Adara always forgot her mother wasn't a housewife she just worked at home. It was weird to see her on the phone with her employees yelling at them to sell one type of stock. Adara was in her room, she still hadn't looked at the document yet, she wanted to wait until Keiji and Zaki were back. It looked like Keiji was outside her window looking up at her right now, but that was just her imagination.

Wait….that wasn't her imagination, that was Keiji outside of her window, soaking wet looking up at her. Why wasn't he knocking to get in. She gestured him to meet her out back, and he nodded. Adara ran down the stairs. "WHAT'S WITH RUNNING DOWN THE STAIRS LIKE AN ELEPHANT?" her father asked as he moved his shoji piece.

"God dad, sorry, you sound like you're in a bad mood." Adara shot as she headed towards the back. Something was wrong with Keiji. Adara opened the kitchen door to see Keiji standing 5 feet back soaking wet, His golden eyes were troubled, his short purple hair plastered to his face. "Come in Keiji." He shook his head no, "what's up?"

"I- uh—I just wanted to see if you were still ok." He replied, the boy was shaking.

Adara didn't understand what was happening, she had never seen Keiji so, shaken before. "Well, I'm ok, what is up with you?" She stated, "are you sure you don't want to come in."

"I – I don't want to bother the family." Keiji answered. Adara looked back into the kitchen, she didn't want her family hearing about this either, so Adara stepped outside and closed the door behind her. Maybe she should tell Keiji now.

"Ok your not bothering them, tell me what happened." Adara said, the thing he did next was unexpected, lifting Adara off the ground only a little Keiji gave her a giant hug. It wasn't too big; she could still breathe and smell his musty scent. Keiji buried his head into her neck.

"Zaki died." Were the only two words he said, Adara was then the one in need of the hug, she hugged him back, not caring about the rain that was getting them both soaking.


	21. Heavens Light

**A.N. Hey I know this is weird cause I never put my A.N at the very beginning, but I want to remind everyone to be a good reader and review :D. Criticism about plot and character development is welcomed if not looked for. Don't bother talking about grammar and spelling, I all ready know it sucks.**

Adara was completely speechless, Zaki dead, that spunky grey haired girl that just seemed to know everything. "She's really dead?" Adara asked, "Dead, like never ever coming back?" Adara had to keep from making her voice break.

Keiji wiped a rain drop from his eyes. "She fell of a gorge, we couldn't find her body, if they don't get word in the next two weeks, she's being declared killed, right now she's only MIA." Keiji explained.

Adara pretended to perk up "Well she's not dead yet, so…" she didn't know what to say. "You should go home, your going to catch a cold." Scolding seemed safe now. Adara didn't want to scold, but it was the only thing keeping her from declaring her love. "Meet me at 4 am, yeah I know it's early, but I start training, at 5. Meet at the tree?" A night of rest will make it easier for him to talk; Adara knew Keiji good enough to know that trying to make him explain everything now would be nearly impossible.

Keiji took her hands in his and gave them a soft squeeze, "I don't know what I would do with out you Adara, I wouldn't have gotten any where with out you." Adara's heart was breaking hearing him speak those words. The urge to kiss him was way to strong. Taking advantage of his grief would be horrible of her.

"Go home and rest," Adara ordered reluctantly parting their hands.

"Bye, Adara. Thank you for everything."

Rolling her eyes, "Yeah, yeah gosh stop being so sappy, I'll see you tomorrow morning." This made both them chuckle sadly. Keiji left her; she stood looking at his dwindling silhouette. Taking a real big breath, Adara went inside.

The next morning Adara left extra early for the park, nobody in her family noticed any thing strange in her, when she had walked in. Or else they had the decency to not talk about it. Keiji was all ready up on their branch. Keiji reached out to help her up like he usually did but Adara smiled and shook her head. She had been training with Neji he taught her how to jump high enough to go to the top of the tallest tree in Konoha. She just had to show off a little bit. With little to no effort she got on top of the branch. Keiji smiled weekly, "Impressive."

"Thanks," Adara gave him a big smile, before plopping herself down. "So are you better now?" Keiji nodded. "I want to know what happened." Adara made her voice go soft. Keiji looked out at the sky; it was as cloudy as yesterday.

--------- -- - - -- - - -- - --------

There was a peaceful silence on this cloudy early morning, Sara thanked, well god wasn't real, but she was thankful to what ever controlled the universe out there. Usually there was some sort of screaming and fights going on here. She had found the cheapest facility she could to go to rehab, hell there was more drug traffic here then out on the streets. She had gone 3 months in here, longer then she had stayed at the other places. She had been doing so well. Zakuro had even visited her with Max, they had talked she had seemed so put together, OH GOD. Zaki oh god her beautiful little Zakuro, her beautiful amazing child, was gone from her. She had no reason to be sober; she had no reason to be high. She had no reason. But tears had dried out over night.

The men had come late in the evening; telling her that her daughter was MIA, Missing in action. DEAD! In other words, but the useless impotent government couldn't find her body. That's what MIA means. Fuck they probably hadn't cared enough to search for her. God it was fucking hard enough getting her in that uppity rich peoples academy, they had tried to stop Sara from doing the one thing her husband had demanded on his death bed. They said she didn't have the right back ground, wouldn't have been able to make it. Being a shinobi wasn't in her blood. But Sara got her in, she used to think it was the only thing she had ever done right by her daughter. BUT FUCK THEM, they sent her off and got her killed. AND WOULDN'T EVEN DO HER LITTLE GIRL THE DECENCY TO GIVE HER NAME A SPOT ON THAT FUCKEN MEMORIAL! The only people not right to be in the government were the shinobi! They only cared for themselves and the rich. It was cheaper to get high on crystal meth each weekend then to pay for one fucken D ranked mission.

If her husband had still been alive, if he hadn't gotten mixed up with that gang called Roots. If he had kept his nose out of It she remembers those day's too. He had seemed distant disturbed. All he would tell her was that it was to save Gai's life. That was all he would say, had to do it. Afterwards he had seemed so shaken, he told her he would never be able to live down what he had done. What he had helped to do. A week later he had killed himself. He had left a note for Zaki, but Sara and Allie both agreed to wait for her to get older before they gave it to her. But she would never be able to read this note; she would never be getting any older.

Sara was a horrible mother; she had never been there for her child, her only reason to live. And now that only reason was gone. The woman wiped away the dirt on the mirror and looked at herself one last time. She wore her black dress, and a matching black hair bow. She looked sweet, her eyes were hazel. Just like Zaki's eyes, Zaki had looked like her father so much. But she always knew that Zaki's was hers for she had her eyes. Taking out the medicine bottle she had fucked the security guy for she smiled. It was pilled morphine; she had taken some earlier today to check if he hadn't cheated her. Taking the pills was easier then she had anticipated. She had all ready locked the door, it was cold in here. Might as well turn the hot water on.

It was luke warm when Sara stepped in dress and all. Leaning against the shower wall she smiled as the water hit her. As the water washed away her past life, Sara closed her eyes and smiled, she was going to see her husband again. She was going to see her baby girl again.

----------------- -- ----

After the story Adara sat there and stared out at Konoha, the clouds only parted in certain places. Making it look like heavens light was shining upon certain places and times. She looked at Keiji who was staring at Konoha too. "You know I remember my mother saying something about those things," He mused pointing at the ray of light that was on top of the hokage's tower. "She told me, that when the light of heaven shines through a bunch of clouds, after a huge storm. Somebody's life is changed for ever." Adara looked at Keiji, he looked so lonely. With out even thinking about it she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I wonder whose life is going to be changed today?" She asked. Keiji gave a little grunt and wrapped an arm around her.

--- -- ------- -- - - ------ - - -----

Kaida stared up at the light that shown down on top of the Hokage mountain. She had decided that this would be the first step. Looking down on the city she loved, she hated, she didn't understand. This was the first step to understanding, Kaida looked down at Yo. It was time to get rid of him. It was time to snap the cord. She was a grown up now she didn't need, NO she shouldn't have a stuffed teddy bear.

She looked down at the tan rough fabric; the stuffing was starting to come out, the nose was almost about to fall off. Anger filled Kaida, this thing represented all the stuff that got Zaki killed. This no good compellation of fabric, it was time it fell of the edge into the abyss, just like Zaki. Taking one deep breath Kaida flung her child hood of the cliff of the Hokage Mountain.

"Woof Woof !" a loud dog bark came from the left of her. The sun that had shown down so lightly upon her was blocked out by a huge dog, which grabbed Yo in his mouth. When the creature landed with a thud it automatically turned around and hurdled back to the direction it came from. Kaida spun around to see where it was headed. A handsome man was back about 50 feet. He had rough brown hair and curious brown eyes. His face was tanned from being in the sun for too long. "Good job Akamaru! Give it here," He patted the huge beast on the top of its head. His brown eyes then sparkled towards her. The man started strolling towards her, and it seemed like in second he was hunkering down and handing Yo back to Kaida. "You almost dropped this off the gorge; you wouldn't want to lose your stuffed animal."

Kaida grabbed Yo violently from his hands "Yes I did want that! Who are you?"

The man chuckled a little and sat down on the edge, "Names Inuzaki Kiba, what's yours?" The man chuckled holding out his hands. Kaida didn't take it, but she sat down as the big dog called Akamaru bumped her down.

"Mitsu Kaida," She humped.

"You know for a little girl, you sure in a bad mood, what's gotten into your stockings. Don't be ashamed if somebody made fun of you because of the bear." He assured her.

"For your information! I'm not a little girl; I'm far above my age level. I'm already a Gennin. And nobody has made fun of me for Yo I mean this bear, it's just…symbolic." Kiba's eye brows rose in semi- disbelief and a small smirk formed across his face. Kaida's cheeks flushed a little, who was he to pass judgment?

The man shrugged, "Gennin or not it seems like a shame to throw away a perfectly good stuffed animal."

Kaida crossed her arms and huffed "you wouldn't understand." She spat.

The dog man gave a little whistle "you sure are a little spit fire, no wonder your name means little dragon. And you assume to much girly, I no exactly what your going through. You probably just lost someone, I don't know who. But loss is emanating in your scent. I went through the same thing when I was I don't know a little but younger then you." He seemed to be musing down at the city.

"I doubt that," Kaida whispered.

Kiba continued, "My father died when I was 6, he died on a mission. You feel that the whole world just fell apart. You don't understand what was so great about what they died for. You love Konoha, but yet you hate it at the same time. Then you start blaming yourself, if you had been older, if you wouldn't have misunderstood, what was happening around you. It was because of how childish you were. That's why they died, that's why they never came back. So you pick something to through off a cliff or drown in a river, you pick something to just hurt. You place all your hate and all you're suffering, in that object, and proceed to try to throw it away, .For ever, maybe of a cliff?" The man struck a blow to Kaida, she looked back at the tall man who wasn't looking at her, but petting his pet dog.

"Yeah, something like that, a little different, but very similar." She squeaked holding back tears. "What did you throw away?" She asked finally.

"My stuffed Dalmatian named pogo," He admitted. "It didn't make me any wiser; it didn't make me any more grown up. It just made me a little bit more depressed that I had lost my favorite stuffed animal." He took Yo gently from Kaida's hands, "What's his name?" He asked her.

"His name is Yo, it means positive." Kaida said. Kiba gave Kaida back Yo.

"Well Kaida, getting rid of Yo wont change anything, it wont make who ever you lost come back, it wont suddenly make you twenty years older, it wont do anything much. And why would you throw away your childhood? It's a precious gift we only receive once. I'm sure who ever you lost wouldn't want you to do it." Kiba spoke simple words. Kaida looked at Akamaru and gently reached out to pet him. "Go ahead," Kiba reassured, "he's great with people."

Akamaru gave a small yelp and started licking Kaida's face which made the little girl laugh. The dog stopped his playful attack of his tongue, and sat his huge head down on the girls lap. "It was my team mate," She admitted patting the dogs head. And before she started on the story, she added this, "I love dogs."

--- - --------- - - - - - - - - - -

Keiji pointed to another Heaven's light that was showing down on the bad part of Konoha the dregs. "That's where Zaki lived, its weird but that's all I know about her home life, or personal life. She just didn't talk much about it."

Adara sighed, "now that I think about it I don't know much about her either, except that she was extremely defensive, and that her dad killed himself."

"She had a godmother, she worked with," Keiji added.

"I miss her all ready," Adara said, that chakra was coming again. The man who had attacked her a few days previous was here. Adara hadn't told anybody about it. She had planned on telling Zaki, but right now that wasn't an option.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"Why you sorry?"

"It's my entire fault, if I had been stronger, if I had been able to pull them up, none of it would have happened." Keiji admitted.

Adara had to think for a minuet how did a person respond to that? "A lot of things could have been different Keiji, but we just have to live with the out comes. Would have's could have's and should haves have no place in the shinobi world. They have no place in life." It was 4:50 now, if she left, the man would attack her again, but she would face the wrath of Neji if she didn't show. But Neji would just give her a lecture; this man would do anything to her as long as it wasn't killing her. Better to stay with Keiji.

----- - - - - ----------- - - - - -----

Gai took a deep breath; he had been up all night since he heard the news. The only thing, he could think was how Allie must have taken it. That was her god daughter, no it was Zak's daughter, Zak's and Sara's daughter. That girl's life, he should have been apart of, he should have been there to help raise her. Hadn't he made a promise when he was younger? He would always be there for Allie, for Sara and Zak. Especially Zak, they had been so close. Brothers but better, he wouldn't know how to describe Zak and his friendship.

You get to know a person extremely well when you save their life or visa versa. As a shinobi you get strong bonds, but none of them were as strong as the one Zak and he had. How do you describe the friend who would walk with you during the middle of the night because you couldn't go home because your mother was doing her work? Gai had never really had a mother, she was ok in a way. But being a prostitute she couldn't really give Gai all he needed to have. Like clothing, a proper home life or an education. But she did her best.

None of them had, had good home lives, Gai's father was non existent, and his mother was a prostitute. Zak's dad was single and maybe schizophrenic, nobody actually knew. The only thing Zak new was that the guy talked to himself. Sara had the worst home life, her father would beat her senseless each night before her mother would yell and scream at her for being a whore.

Allie came in later in the scene, maybe when they were about 11, her father moved in with his sister at the time ran the Zoo. He had been a farmer who after his wife had died lost his appetite for farming. Allies aunt had been a very, distant woman, she had never encouraged the prostitution or the drug trafficking that was so plenty at her bar. But she never said no to it, as long as you kept the place clean didn't break anything you could do almost any thing in there. Allie had all ways said she wanted to make it a place for kids to hang out, to help them shape up better.

But all of that stuff was just pipe dreams. None of that was ever going to happen. It was all gone. Gai had unconsciously been standing in front of the Zoo. Should he go in and talk with Allie? She probably wasn't up yet. Or was still up cleaning a wreck of last night, maybe she went to go comfort Sara, Sara could never deal with loss very well. Allie was just, well she was a blood sucking witch but an incredibly strong willed and courageous blood sucking witch that could seem to with stand everything.

"_Come on you guys! Lets think of something to do!" Zak complained as the three of them, walked in the ally behind the Zoo. Gai didn't feel like doing anything, he felt like sleeping, the training his sensei was giving him was rough. After a few minuet of silence Zak continued, giving an exasperated speech to Sara, "Now Sara, Gai is only what, 2 years away? Yeah 2 years from becoming useless cannon fodder called ninja. He has 2 years of being a normal person. Before TOTALLY selling out to the government and becoming a useless clone" Zak was on one of his rants. _

"_Being a shinobi isn't that bad, and training, it's not tiresome or gruesome it's serene. It's nicer then meandering around this crappy city for nothing to do." Gai defended. _

"_Hey I meander with style!" Zak defended. Sara was just smiling, Her face was black and blue and splotchy with bruises, her father had been very angry a couple nights ago. Sara sat down on a garbage heap, Zak sitting right next to her looped a caring arm around her shoulder. The usually silent girl smiled and buried her head in his shoulder. "We need to find you a woman!" He declared. Sara laughed at his theatrical acts. Zak jumped up again thinking of another great idea. "No No NO! You are going to be one of those extra sensitive guys that everybody thinks is gay, but once the chicks feel there safe around you you'll be like" making a giant hip thrust every time he said bam, Zak continued. "BAM PREGNATE, BAM PREGNATE, BAM PREGNATE. Then you know we'll have a whole new generation of little Gai's running around!" Gai blushed; he had never been comfortable about sex talk. And since Zak reached puberty that's all he talked about. Sara rolled his eyes and gave Zak a big purple nurple. _

"_You should stop talking so crudely," she said in a silent deadly voice. Zak yelped with agony. _

"_God woman that's my nipple not a freaking radio dial!" He screeched. _

"_What the hell are you guys doing out here?" a new voice intervened; Gai looked around to see a short girl with short mouse brunette hair. Her eyes were sharp and she looked angry. _

"_Oh sorry, we didn't' mean to intrude I live upstairs with my mom, so we usually hang out here," Gai excused he had never seen this girl before. _

"_Don't apologies to this dame, she can't just come to our hang out and order us out." Zak said pretending to act tough. _

"_You act tough for a skinny little stick," The stranger asserted, the girl seemed tough if not a little too aggressive. _

_Zak backed off a little, "well I'm not the fighter, I'm a lover" he then pointed towards Sara and winked, "just ask her." Pushing Gai forward he continued, "Now this here, is our, you know muscle he's like a mountain of manliness!" Zak always talked too big for everything. _

_Gai couldn't say anything, his voice had been taken away. This beautiful creature in front of him was staring at him with dark brown eyes. He was too lost in them to say anything, like chocolate kind of. He was swimming around in a chocolate void looking for some words to save him and impress her. Gai licked his lips they felt chapped, after what seemed like a lifetime and a half he came up with something, "Hi." _

Little did 11 year old Gai know, he had just met a succubus of hell. But maybe she wasn't so bad, even a bitch had feelings. And well...Gai owed a lot to her. Even if he would never admit it, Gai swallowed his pride and broke another promise his younger self made. He stepped into the establishment known as the zoo again.

"We are closed! Can't you people read a fucking sign!" A harsh voice shouted towards the door. Gai looked around the only thing that had changed was the variation of tables and chairs, probably cause the old ones where bashed on somebody's head. Allie was cleaning the bar with a rag, something her Aunt used to do all the time as a stress reliever seemed her niece had picked it up.

Gai stayed silent awhile surveying how she had changed over years, she had grown in height, and her curves had become less awkward more full. Her hair had gotten darker and something else had changed. Gai didn't know what, something was missing, or something was added, he didn't know. "I didn't come in for a drink" he finally said. Allie looked up startled. Confusion and anger mixed in her chocolate syrup eyes.

"Then get out!" Was the final response. Now that Gai got a good look at her face, her eyes were puffy from crying. It wasn't a good look for her.

" I just wanted to see…"

"To see what Gai? To see what?"

"Just see how you were…"

Allie gave a harsh laugh, "That's rich, you wouldn't show up to your best friends funeral but you would come and see how I'm doing when a girl, you had nothing to do with. Is MISSING in action. Did you come apologize that the government can't even come up with a fucken body?" Allie was angry she was scrubbing the bar violently.

Gai didn't know what to say, all the things she spoke of where true, "No I…"

"Well then I don't want to hear anything else right now!" Allie said, shaking her head, Gai saw the new tears coming down her face. Gai reached out to comfort her, she yanked herself away. "DON'T! Touch me; you lost that privilege a long time ago Gai." He withdrew his hand from her as she took a couple steps away.

Allie turned around so her back was facing Gai, "Please, Allie I just…don't turn your back towards me." For a first time in years Gai felt helpless not in control. Anything she said right now would be the end of something, and UN like other stories this one will have no happy ending.

"Hurts don't it? Its not easy when somebody you want to face, won't face you." The piece broke; you have two separate things in a picture that are totally unrelated, and then you tear the picture in two. You know those two things can never get together, but now there was absolutely of that ever happening.

Gai only had three words to say, "I'll leave now." And he did just as he said.


	22. Heavens Lights Part 2

Adara was thirty minuets late for training, but she didn't care. Keiji needed her and that was all she wanted to know. Screw the guy who had been watching for the last thirty minuets, Adara wondered if Keiji noticed him. If he did Keiji wasn't saying anything. They were still looking at the heavens light. As the morning progressed more and more shone through. "What happens when there are no more clouds to shine through, does the magic disappear?" Adara asked Keiji.

Keiji chuckled, "No no it doesn't."

Adara looked at Keiji for a long time; it was nice that it was just the two of them. They don't even have to talk; they just knew each other too well. "What was your mother like? I never got to meat her."

Keiji closed his eyes; He only had one vivid memory of her.

_It was early morning cloudy a lot like this morning; his mother and he were walking in the woods. Keiji was about 3 at the time, they walked hand and hand looking at the different flowers. His mother was a tall gangly woman. She wore a big lavender peasant skirt that reached to her ankles. On her feet she wore old fashioned sandals that wrapped around the leg. Her shirt was a regular white tank top. _

_Keiji remembered the feel of her hands, strong, but extremely gentle. In her hands there were still tough traces of the rough shinobi life she lived, but most of skin was so gentle. The rough parts were a mere memory of the past long forgotten. She made him stopped before a medium sized clearing in the forest. _

_She bent down letting her deep purple hair tickle his face. It was thin and fine. Keiji inherited the color of his hair from his mother. But his hair was not silky and fine like hers it was coarse and rough. "Look there dear," She whispered pointing to the clearing. It slowly was illuminated by the rising sun. "That my dear, its heavens light where ever it shines there is potential to change ones life forever." _

_The three year old Keiji owed and awed at the light. He didn't know how his mother did it, always made things so magical. His mother lifted him up in her arms and headed towards the clearing. Keiji smelled her she smelled of rosewood a nice feminine not to strong scent. It was the scent of home and happiness. He hugged her closer. "But that's just the sun, it happens everyday." The three year old suggested logically. His mother put him down and started laughing. It was a low chuckle also a lot like her fathers. _

"_And every day, one has the potential to change ones life for ever." Was his mother's explanation. Keiji took her hand again; there was sadness in her eyes that sometimes came over her. The look was one of loneliness. It always made Keiji want to hug her, so he did. This made her smile. _

"_Mommy? I have a question?" _

"_Yes Keiji," _

"_How can you smile and still look sad at the same time?" _

"_I don't know, I guess its something you learn when you get older." His mother answered looking up into the sun and letting it warm her face. _

"_I have another question."_

"_Shoot,"_

"_What if you don't want your world to change, what if you just want to stay like you are for ever." This made his mother even sadder; she sat down so her face was level with keiji's. _

"_You know I asked you're father the same question once."_

"_You did?"_

"_Yup, and you know what he said."_

"_No,"_

"_He said there are only three things in this world that are constant, the sun, change and…" His mother stopped to close her eyes and take a deep breath. _

"_What's the third thing mommy?"_

_The grey eyes opened and she gave him another sad smile, "His love for me." _

_Keiji looked up at the sun, he loved the nice warm fell on his face. But he never wanted change; he just wanted to stay like this with his mommy forever. He didn't like the change *COUGH COUGH COUGH!* Keiji looked at his mother; she was having one of her coughing fits again. It was the worst he had ever seen, she took out her handkerchief to catch the phlegm coming out, but it wasn't phlegm, it was blood. _

_The blood mesmerized Keiji, its thick texture and how much it stood out on the all white hanky. And the blood never stopped it kept coming out every time she coughed, not a lot but it speckled the pure white hanky. His mother started shaking like crazy before she collapsed on the ground. She was coughing so much, it wouldn't stop and the blood just kept coming out. Rough spray not a smooth flow, the young Keiji didn't know what to do, his mother wasn't responding to him. She just was on the ground coughing, she usually stopped after this, she wasn't why wasn't she stopping, why couldn't Keiji do anything why was did the blood keep coming out? He didn't understand he needed to do something he wanted to do something. _

A violent shake woke him up from the deep memory. "Keiji!" It was Adara; he looked over her deep brown eyes looked worried.

Keiji closed his eyes and smiled, his mother was right. Learning to smile when you're sad is something you learn when you get older. "Sorry, you know me Adara I don't really want to talk about it."

Adara never smiled with her eyes sad, she only smiled with understanding deep with in her. "You don't have to if you don't want to." Adara looped his arm over her shoulder like they used to be. She pointed to a small patch of light on the far of the dregs.

"I wonder what is happening over there?" She tried to muse.

---- -- -------------- - - -- -

Max had died. Not in a physical sense, but any other sense was dead. Zaki had died; there was not other way around it. No mindless sex with another groupie was ever going to change that. Max closed his eyes, even when she was alive; Max had never wanted any of those women. They were fun little toys; he needed to play with for a while, to keep him occupied till Zaki was ready.

Max loved Zaki; there was no other way around it. He loved how she looked to old for her age, or the fact that her laugh was harsh to ones ears. He loved how she smiled a wolf toothy grin. He loved the fact that she skated every where. When he saw her put one of his shirts on it always made him feel good in all the right places. Max had wanted to protect her, to get her away from this place. He and his band were supposed to make it rich, and then when she was ready, they would marry. He would make sure everything in her life was special and sweet. It was the least he could do. He loved her; if he gave her the universe he still wouldn't think it was enough.

That girl was his life. Max smiled to himself, he always thought the world would end when she died, that he would just know. But it wasn't like that, something in him maybe the blind hope, told him she was still alive and breathing. But false hope just crushed ones dreams even more.

He wasn't going to give up on life no, that was a cowards way out. Max would live life for Zaki, everything he did would be for her from now on. Nothing would stop him.

Max looked through his barren draws, it should be somewhere. After a couple minuets he found it, a big butcher knife an old tenant left. Perfect, max thought as he smiled to himself. The first thing he was going to do for Zaki was planning a little accident for Milton.

----------------------

Allie breathed slowly, after Gai left. She felt ashamed of herself, when that man had stepped into the bar all she wanted to do was bury himself in his arms, and cry. She reluctantly recalled fond memories with the man when they were younger.

_It was a hot day in Konoha, Allie and her boy friend of three years were on top of the roof of the Zoo. Usually she would never be able to come up here, but her muscular over competitive boy friend insisted she see what Konoha was like from the roof tops. Frankly she loved it. _

_Looking over at the boy lying next to her, Allie smiled, she was right; he looked good with shorter hair. Allie was semi thankful that a couple nights ago Gai had fallen asleep with his shoes on at a party. In retaliation Zak and Sara had cut his hair. They had done a horrible job and the only way to repair it for him, was to give him a bowl hair cut. To every ones surprise he pulled it off like nobody else could. It made him look sexy, her dirty 15 year old mind thought. _

_Allie stared at Gai and licked her lips. He had his shirt of in this hot summer sun, the definition in his stomach muscle drove her mad. The speckled sweat drops across his body drove Allie mad with desire. He never understood what his body made her want to do. At this time her 15 year old self was imagining what all that musky sweat would taste like. Gai looked over at her with his strong definite chin and amazing eyes. _

"_What are you staring at?" his voice asked. The voice that had just cracked a couple months ago, so what if he was 15 years old before it cracked, his voice was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard in her life. _

"_Hm? Oh nothing, I was just thinking, about things." Allie dismissed, she didn't know how her boy friend would take it if she told him that she was thinking of wanting to lick all the sweet sweat off his body. _

_Getting Gai to go any farther then second base was like pulling teeth. She knew that he was hesitant about getting physical because he didn't want to cheapen her. He was very sensitive about the subject since his mother was a prostitute. Doesn't mean she couldn't tease him again. Allie sat up and took of her own shirt. Gai's eyes popped open "what are you doing?" He asked trying to put her shirt back on. _

"_What?" Allie asked, sounding sweet innocent, "I'm hot," She gave Gai a little pout she new he couldn't resist and leaned in closer. She could feel his eyes struggling to stay on her face. Allie knew she was extremely well endowed. After a couple minuets of spluttering Gai relinquished Allie sighed, she hadn't wanted him to back down; she wanted his hands to explore new territory on her body that's what she wanted. But that was what she loved most about Gai, no matter how bad things got, he always stick around and tried to stay honorable. _

_Allie leaned over him, her hands couldn't help but trace the muscle on his chest. "How's training going?" She asked. _

"_I'm training hard to get into the chunnin exams this year," Gai then tensed up and made his hands into his fists, "But the board told me that I probably wouldn't be accepted because of the district I was located in. If you live in the dregs you have to pass another test by the Uchiha's, the Uchiha's have yet to pass a non-Uchiha." Allie closed her eyes, she had always marveled at how Gai took the abuse, how much he had to hide from his shinobi colleagues. They weren't his friends, they never tried to be. He didn't need anybody else but Zak, Sara and Her. They were the unstoppable four. _

_Allie leaned down and kissed Gai gently on the tip of his nose, "If it makes you feel any better I believe in you," She had tasted some sweat and the need to taste more was urging her on. "Gai I've known you for about 4 years now, and you have never failed at any challenge life gives you, you never stop believing in yourself. And that's only one of the reason's I love you." Allie clapped her mouth shut after the last three years. That was not what she was supposed to say, she was supposed to say she admired him. But the three words were like vomit spilling out of her mouth. Gai sat up and looked at Allie straight in the eye. _

"_What did you just say?" he asked her, Allie wanted to look away, but his black, brown eyes drew her in so much she just had to stare at them and get closer to the body. Gai was breathing heavily, she was practically panting, the heat in the air was static electricity. _

"_That you never give up and.. and," Gai was leaning closer now, he was taking a dominate position and her body was pining for more. Before she knew it, he had made it so she was lying on the bricked roof tops and he was on top of her. _

"_After that," The deep voice ordered. _

"_I love.." She never got to finish that sentence, before she could end it, Gai had stopped her mouth with his kiss. _

The rest of that day was a blurry of silent passionate bliss on that roof top. That day both her and Gai lost their virginity on that roof top. Looking back Allie wanted to slap her old self for being so childish. She had never made him say I love you back. Not ever, during the 7 odd years they were together, he had never told her he loved her. She had always assumed that love was something girls had to express because that's what they were supposed to. But no that way of thinking left her heart broken with nobody to help pick up the pieces.

---- - - - -- --------- - ------

Max felt weird carrying a potential murder weapon in his jacket as he walked through the dregs where Milton would be. The only thing he had decided was the fact Milton would die. As he got to Zaki's house he stopped, Jr.'s gang bangers were there at the door. Milton opened the door, he couldn't hear them, but the pervert looked panicked. Finally Tank the biggest guy in the group grabbed his collar and brought him to the ally out back. Max watched from the end of the ally in a daze, as he saw the five men for the next 15 minuets continually beat on Milton. To Max's surprise he got no sense of justice from seeing the pervert get the shit beat out of him.

"Of course not Maxwell," a little voice said from within him. "You say it to everyone you meat, you're a lover not a fighter, what has violence ever done for you?"

"Nothing" he replied to himself, he looked over to see what looked like Sara, Zaki's mother. She was wearing a nice black dress with a black bow on her head. She was staring at her step husband in a mixture of pity and disgust. Max got angry, "Do you even know what that man did to Zaki!"

Sara closed her eyes, "I do know,"

"And you still don't want me to kill him, it would be easy, slit his throat, it will look like the gang did him in. I would never get blamed." Max tried to reason with her, but a sad smile crept over her face as she closed her eyes.

"You would never be able to face Zaki again, and if you tell her, she won't look at you the same way ever again." Sara stated, she turned around and looked at max in the eye's. Zaki had her eyes.

"It doesn't matter, Zaki is dead!" He nearly yelled. Sara shook her head.

"If Zaki was the dead one, do you really think I would be the one to talk you out of doing this?" Sara asked, Max stopped.

"Wait your not here?" She wasn't real, Max reached out to touch her but nothing happened.

"Make me a song Max; you always reminded me of Zaki's father Zak, you both were unbelievably talented musicians. Make me a song that's sad. Make me a song that's happy, Make me a song that embodies my story," Sara asked, The wind started to stir, and wipe her figure away.

"But then it would end before it's supposed too." Max said closing his eyes, this only meant one thing, Sara just killed herself.

It felt like forever for Max to come to his senses, this could mean two things, Sara was dead and Zaki was alive, or he was going crazy. Wait Zaki wasn't dead! She wasn't! She was still alive and breathing some where! He had to go tell Allie!

---- - ----- - - - - -----

The sun was nearly up now and you could see out over all of Konoha. "I think I see Suna over there" Adara pointing out to a little dot in the horizon. It was a lot more cloudier over there. The only way you could distinguish was another heavens light.

------- - - - - - - --------

The Kazekage walked alone by the river in Suna. Gaara always liked to get away and think. Especially on cloudy days like this. It made him think better. The river was nice and flowing, kind of high for this time of year, but not too big.

The beauty of the river was cut short by a beer bottle washed up on shore. Gaara narrowed his eyes in anger; people should be punished with a huge fine for leaving litter. It was just one of those things that made him want to start being a homicidal maniac. Taking out a plastic bag he brings with him just in case he needs to throw something away, Gaara trudged over to the spot. He looked around. There were all types of scraps around a big boulder he started picking up the side closest to him. After picking up 3 wrappers, 2 cans of soda and 3 beer bottles, he saw a grey netting of some sort splayed out on the other side of the boulder.

Gaara looked around, to find out what exactly the pesky litter was, his eyes became huge as he saw it belonged to a passed out angel.


	23. Canada

Gaara hid in the coma patents room. As the Kazekage he would sometimes do hospital visits to shinobi of such, usually only if his brother or sister's team came in. And that would be an excuse for him to escape the duties of work for a few hours and hide in a vacant room. But his usual room was no longer vacant; there was the grey haired girl he found earlier. She was in a coma, so it wasn't like he was going to disturb her any. And any way, this was one of the only rooms that got T.V. Land; he needed his fix of The Beverly Hillbillies. Don't judge him!

It was kind of nice having company, he didn't feel so lonely. Looking over to the girl he smiled a sad smile, her family must be missing her dearly, but she had no identification on her, so they couldn't contact any one. She was a very pretty girl, serene in the way her eyes closed.

Her heart monitor gave a little beep, Gaara's curiosity over took him and he walked over to see if everything was all right.

---- - - - - - -

Yamato was in no condition to start training, but as the Hokage said, she wanted his two remaining Gennin in the chunnin exam no matter what! So he had to get up and do something, as Shikimaru would say, what a drag.

Yamato was not a morning person; there were only two things he could do in the morning. 1 take a shower, 2 and most important, make coffee. And he only took the shower so he had something to do while waiting for the coffee to be made. Anything before that would be lost on him, before coffee you could tell yamato that the whole of Konoha was explode, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Asuma was addicted to cigarettes, Kakashi had his literature erotica (it's technically not porn because it doesn't have pictures), Gai had his spandex, Anko was turned on by blood, Neji was addicted to being emotionally unavailable. Yamato had coffee, as far as addictions went, he got off easy. Don't judge him!

After his daily fix Yamato went to work, he had told the two to meat him at the usual grounds at around 6:30 it was 6:15 now he had time to get there.

---- -- -- - --------

"Wakey wakey!" A female voice said to Max as light shown in on his eyes.

"What time is it?" He asked, to his surprise the female voice was from Sara, Max sat up "What are you still doing here? I thought you were just going to leave a cryptic message." He told the ghost who was in the same outfit as before.

"You know so did I, but apparently I have to stay and be your conscious, kind of like jiminy cricket, but I'm not a cricket. OHh before I forget only you can see me," Sara said as she sat on Max's bed.

"Wait so you're like stuck in my head?"

"Yeah,"

"So if somebody walked in the room right now,"

"It would look like your talking to yourself." Sara finished his sentence.

Max was in shock, he had thought yesterday's episode of talking to dead people, was a once and a life time thing. Like it was never ever going to happen again, but he was wrong. Here he was talking to Sara, who was dead. Or was she? Max tried to poke her, it went right through.

The women on his bed sighed "Do you believe me now?" She asked impatiently.

Max shook his head yes, and then shook his head no. This was way to confusing, "If this was midnight shamalons the 6th sense would I be…Bruce Willis's character?"

Sara shook her hands and her head, "No darling, I would be Bruce Willis's character, you're the little kid."

"But I don't want to be the creepy little kid,"

"Well sense I'm the dead one, it means you're the one seeing dead people." Sara reasoned. That reasoning didn't make Max feel better though.

Until this encounter with Sara, Max had never realized just how much Zaki was like her. The mannerisms were just way to similar, it was creepy. The way they moved their hands and answered questions was quit similar. "So is Zaki still not dead?"

"She's not dead, she's not even nearly dead, and she's just sleeping." Sara explained.

"Where is she sleeping?"

"Can't tell you that," Sara smiled apologetically.

Max sighed, "Do I have to like, fulfill something, or you know get something for you to go away?"

"You know I think you do have to fulfill something…" Sara said absentmindedly she stroked her chin while she was thinking.

"Like…"

"I don't know, I really don't, just something's going to happen, and I'm going to disappear."

They sat there for a few minuets in silence; Max wondered if she could read his thoughts, his musing was interrupted by her, "yes Maxwell I can read your thoughts."

"oh"

--- - - - - --- - - ---

Kaida woke up, yesterday had been amazing. That man Kiba had let her ride his dog Akamaru all the way home. He was so kind, Kaida usually didn't take kindly to strangers, but there was something about that man that she trusted completely, it was probably the dog.

As she crept around the apartment Kaida got the cereal from the counter, Kiba was right there was no sense in throwing away everything from the past. But that doesn't mean Kaida can't try to change. Instead of waking her mother to make her breakfast, Kaida decided to make it herself. Nothing fancy like pancakes but she knew how to make cereal just fine. Things she would usually ask adults to do for her, she would do herself. Nothing major, but it was something.

But Kiba had made a great point about her being so young and a shinobi, nobody ever expected a cute girl her age to be a dangerous shinobi. If she could play up her naivety, she could use it as a weapon. Maybe at the chunnin exams, it was an idea to mull over.

---- - ----- - -- --- ---

Keiji got up; somehow he knew that training with Yamato would do him no good. Well that wasn't true, it would teach him more of the basics, but it wouldn't solve his immediate problem. He needed to find out what his animal guardian was. He was told that there was nothing to do but wait and it will come when needed.

But Keiji had needed it at that gorge, and it didn't come. Waiting for it to magically appear was going to do no good. Taking an initiative was the only way to get it. He was useless until then, just a bunch of fury with no direction. The only thing he was a danger to at this point in time was his team mate.

But his grandfather wanted nothing to do with the ninja world. He didn't even want Keiji to talk about training. The third dying had been hard on grandpa. Before then he was reluctant to talk about it, but now even the mention of shinobi was a sin in the house. Keiji wasn't going to take it though; he was going to force grandpa to help him, even if he had to break that mans arm in the process, its not like Keiji could actually break grandpa's arm, but he would certainly try almost anything to make the old coot help him.

-------- -------- - - ----- --- -

Zaki opened her eyes slowly, why was everything so bright? A man was hovering over her, "Max?" She asked, was she home?

"No," A gravely and dark voice said.

It wasn't max it was some stranger with red hair and piercing aqua marine eyes. He was surrounded by a bright light. His face was only feet away from hers; he bent down to inspect her. Zaki scooted away, and with out even thinking she threw a punch in his direction.

The man caught it easily, he held onto her wrist "Who are you?"

-------- - - - - - - - - - ------

Gaara looked down at the girl; she had called him max, probably her brother. He had his hand wrapped around her small wrists. Her eyes a brilliant shade off hazel looked at him straight in the eye. They burned with challenge and distrust. "Who are you?" She asked; Gaara let her wrists go and backed away slowly.

The girl looked at him; she looked older when she was awake, heavy in a way. She was sitting up straight and her mouth was in a small scowl. Her eyes were harsh and calculating. Gaara kept silent for it to sink in that she was in a hospital. The girl looked around, "Where am I?"

"Suna's main hospital, I found you yesterday half dead by the river." Gaara explained, the girl looked at him even more harshly.

"And like I asked before who are you?"

"I am…" Gaara was going to introduce himself as the Kazekage but something stopped him. "Gaara."

"Gaara?" She tested out the name; He liked to hear his name from her lips.

"Now may I ask, what's your name, I would like to contact your relatives as soon as possible." Gaara notified her.

"Zaki, I'm a Gennin in Konoha." Gaara raised an eyebrow; he was going to need her full name. The girl shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "Nariko Zakuro. That's my full name"

Gaara left and go find the doctors. With in a couple of seconds he found one, "The Coma patient I brought in yesterday just woke up, go attend to her needs and give me a full report as quickly as possible."

---- - ---- - ----- - - - - - - -- - -

Adara walked to training on time today, Neji stopped and scowled at her. He nodded to the other two to start on the laps before him. "Looked who decided to show up today." His voice snarled sarcastically.

"Yup,"

"May I ask why you weren't here yesterday?"

"Yes you can ask why I wasn't here yesterday." There was no point in trying to appease this man.

Neji gave another snarl, "Why weren't you here yesterday, the Chunnin exams are in less then a month."

"I needed to help a friend." Was all Adara was going to say, she wasn't going to tell him anything more; he didn't need to know anything about Zaki. Lifting her chin defiantly and staring right at her Sensei's eyes she silently dared him to ask more. Neji eyed her up and a strange looked crossed his eyes. Was it understanding or admiration, Adara didn't know.

Neji backed up and nodded, "You'll be doing 3 extra laps to make up for yesterday,"

Adara bit back a retort and started to follow Lee and Hinabi.

---- - -- ----- -- -- - - -------

Gaara cursed himself for going back to work early, though he had a TV in his office, if he watched anything besides mission reports and news and crap people would start complaining. Suddenly his secretary Mizuki stepped in.

"Yes?" He asked her.

"Sir, I don't know if you remember but I'm going to be leaving the office early today." Mizuki informed him, Gaara thought that he remembered her asking off this afternoon, but he wasn't sure.

"I think so, what is it for again?"

The girl turned a nice shade of pink, "I have a date sir."

"Ok, you may leave" Gaara informed her, he knew of the feelings she used to have for him, it relieved him that she was getting over him. Now that there was nobody there to baby sit him there was no reason for him not to watch the Beverly Hillbillies marathon! Gaara quickly opened the cabinet and turned on the tube. It was commercial now one of his favorites.

"_It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature" _the T.V Blurred at him. A small thump landed on the roof, he decided to ignore it. The show started, it was the one where they were trying to find Jethro a job because he was eating the rest of them out of house and home.

A small giggle came from the roof; Gaara didn't want to move from the sofa so he sent his sand after the intruder. A small gasp came from the outside, as he dragged the person into his office. "Excuses me but I do not appreciate eaves droppers when I am working," he scowled; his sand hand had entrapped the girl with grey hair, Zaki. "Shouldn't you be in the hospital young lady?"

The girl struggled against his sand, he let go, "I hate hospitals," She explained. "You watch the Beverly hillbillies?" She asked even though she all ready knew the answer.

"Yes what's it too you?"

"Nothing, it's nice to know another fan," She shrugged. Gaara relaxed anybody who likes the Beverly Hillbillies was a good person. She seemed to relax a bit too and sat down on the big comfy chair adjacent to the sofa. "Marathon?"

"Yeah,"

"Cool," Zaki looked Gaara up and down, she liked this man for some unknown reason. He seemed a bit harsh but he had good taste in TV shows. The office he had was big and lavish; they were in a small nook of it. This nook had a descent size TV and big comfy leather furnisher around it. The man in question was resting his head on the left side of the sofa as his feet and legs were spread out to the other side. Zaki had plopped herself on the right chair adjacent to the sofa. She was closest to his feet not even an arms length to touch and tickle. The desk at the office was pig and official looking with a computer and important looking documents spread across it. "So are you like an advisor to the Kazekage or something?" She asked him.

The mans no existent eyebrow raised at her his blue eyes piercing through her skin. "I am the Kazekage," Zaki started laughing he looked maybe 3-4 years older then him. He was defiantly not the Kazekage.

Gaara furrowed his eye brows at the grey haired girl, who was she to laugh at him. Maybe she was just jealous cause they were about the same age and she was still a Gennin. "What is so funny?" Her laugh wasn't exactly nice it was extremely harsh, but soothing at the same time.

"If you're the Kazekage I'm the queen of Sheba."

"I didn't know you were royalty!" Gaara sat up in fake exclamation. "Please your highness what can I get for you!"

Zaki pursed her lips "Ha ha very funny, no really what's with the nice office."

It was time for Gaara to give a little chuckle, "I'm the Kazekage."

"It's always really pathetic when a guy pretends his dads office is his, seriously are we going to get into trouble for being here?" She accused him. Gaara gave another chuckle and settled back down to watch the TV.

"What you don't think a person our age is capable of running a country?" Gaara asked her.

"Your only 13?" She asked.

"YOUR only 13?" He asked her.

"Yeah I'm 13," Gaara wasn't pleased to here that for some reason.

"Well I'm 16."

"A 16 year old can not be running a country." Zaki said dead tone. She thought back to Max he was only 17 and he would not be able to run a country, she doubt this guy could. "If you're the kazekage where's your outfit?" Zaki asked.

"At the cleaners."

"Sure…"

"The hat should be somewhere you can go look for it if you want." Gaara told the girl, this was quit amusing, "I hate that thing so I never wear it, it looks like a freaking piece of pie."

Zaki gave another laugh; Gaara was starting too really like that laugh.

---- - - - - - -

Max was walking around the dregs he had nothing better to do. He was on the outskirts of the forest only the tree's surrounding him. To his utter annoyance Sara's ghost walked right by him. "If you had a country what would you name it?" She asked him. Max finally knew what was so different about Sara and Zaki. Zaki was cool and liked silence, Sara on the other hand just kept talking and talking, and she was horribly clingy. That might be because he was the only one who could speak to her, but still the woman needed to know how to shut the hell up! "Come on Maxi boy tell me!"

"I don't know, Canada…" He said pulling out a random name from his head.

"Canada really? That sounds lame…"

"That sounds like a great country with you know lakes and bald eagles and nice people there. When I think of the name Canada I think of a nice country with nice people in it." Max defended.

"I think of people who kill baby seals!" Sara retorted blowing hair out of her face. They walked in silence again.

"So will I see Zaki again?" Max asked Sara, he had been pestering her all day at where Zaki could possibly be but she wouldn't budge.

"Don't know." She scowled at him. "I can't tell you any of these things will you drop it?"

"You know that's typical of you," Max almost yelled, "You didn't care about Zaki at all when you were living, and you still don't care about her." Sara looked like she wanted to slap him.

"My relationship with my daughter is private and none of your business." She hissed.

"No its not, you go out get high make her worry about you for weeks, show up again asking her for money so you can pay for your next high." Max scolded. Sara slapped him, it didn't do anything it went right through him, but still she seemed like if she could have laid a punch on him she would have.

"Shut up!" She roared at him.

"Why can't handle the truth?"

Sara put her hands over her ears, "Shut up, Shut up, Shut up Shut up, and Shut up!"

Max growled, "No you need to hear this your whole life people have always tried to make it more comfortable for you, not any more Sara you were a horrible selfish,"

"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY LIFE!" The ghost shrieked.

"I know as much about your life as you know about your daughters, AkA nothing!"

"Stop it stops it!"

"No"

"Then I'm leaving," Sara said stomping off into the forest.

"Good!" Max shouted after her. "Go to where you belong, HELL!" everything became quiet. Max looked around he was yelling at himself, Shaking it off he kept walking. God he needed a shrink.

--- -- ---- - - - - ---

Gaara was laughing, not chuckling LAUGHING, Zaki was throwing popcorn at his mouth and he was trying to unsuccessfully catch it. "Oh come on its not that hard, just stick out your tongue a bit more." Zaki told him.

"It would be easier if you actually threw the thing so it landed somewhere close to my mouth!" Gaara exclaimed. Zaki tossed a kernel in the air and it landed on Gaara's eye. "How is that any where close to my face?"

"That was totally your fault Gaara not mine!" Zaki responded. Gaara in retaliation took some pretzels and threw them across the room at Zaki, each one hitting her. "Hey no fair, Pretzels have more mass then Popcorn, they are easier to throw."

Gaara was rolling over he was laughing so hard. He never has laughed this hard before. He would usually consider it undignified. But Zaki was, well she was hilarious. Zaki took a piece of pretzel and threw it at him; it landed in his nostril. Gaara started coughing and sneezing, he got the piece of pretzel from his nose and held it up. "Snot pretzel, Yum" He said.

"I'll pay 3 dollars to eat it," Zaki said.

"NO, I have dignity."

Zaki rolled her eyes, "Fine 5 dollars god selfish pig,"

"No," Gaara.

"What kind of girl do you think I am, I'm not rolling around in money you know."

"I'm not going to eat the snot pretzel." Gaara said trying to make his voice sound commanding. The girl just laughed at him.

"Do you still want me to believe you're the Kazekage?"

"I AM THE KAZEKAGE!" He said exasperated. She just laughed more. "Are you like high or something? Cause seriously that wasn't funny." Gaara defended. She snorted at him. "This is ridiculous what do I have to do to make you believe me? I get Fan mail addressed to me."

"That's nothing my best friend Max gets fan mail addressed to him." Zaki countered.

"Really?" From what Zaki had explained from other things about Max was that he really didn't do anything but just floated through life. "Why?"

"He's in a band called Viagra." Zaki admitted.

"Why would they name themselves Viagra?"

"Cause they get people excited." It was time for Gaara to snort at this one.

"kazekage sir!" A voice said from behind the door.

"I told you I'm the Kazekage!" Gaara exclaimed. He then put on a more professional voice, "What is it?"

"That girl from Konoha that you wanted us to keep an eye on, we haven't seen her…"

"Wow, it's been 5 hours and they finally noticed, you suna nins are sooo competent!" Zaki snickered.

Gaara got up and opened the door, that man just ruined his day; opening up the door he let the man see Zaki. "Found her," He put on his shrill disappointed voice over the man. "She has been here with me the whole time, next time sir when a patient from another country especially one that we know little to nothing about go missing, you better not wait 5 hours to contact me about that."

"Ye-yes sir." The man gulped and left. Gaara closed the door.

"OUCH THAT WAS HARSH," Zaki said, "That was great acting from that man though. I didn't know you wanted to convince me that badly."

Gaara grimaced at her, "you're kidding right, and you still don't believe I'm the Kazekage."

"Nope" She sighed and looked at the clock, "I should probably get back to the hospital."

Gaara sighed, he had enjoyed the time with her immensely, "oh ok, see you tomorrow?"

"I don't' know maybe," Zaki then left out the window.

Gaara sat down at his desk, so much paper work to do…then a thought hit him. He hadn't sent a message to Konoha yet about Zaki. Quickly writing a letter then sealing it, Gaara got up and headed toward the bird room in the office.

"Sir!" the man in the room said he gave a salute.

"At ease, I need a message delivered to Konoha." Gaara said.

"Is it urgent sir?" The man asked.

Gaara hesitated, was it urgent? He was sure Zaki's family would need to know she was alive, but he might need faster birds for different messages. That was just an excuses he wanted just to keep Zaki here as long as possible, "No it's not incredibly urgent."

The man nodded and led Gaara to a couple different cages. "Here, we can use Flitter."  
The bird looked like it was a schizo.

"Perfect," He told the man and handed him the note.


	24. Too Stubborn

**I just realized that i accidently deleated the last chapter from this story...yeah and i wrote over it on my computer sooo i can't get it back. The chapter was called an Eskimo kiss, and basically to sum it up Gaara said goodbye to Zaki, Yamato found out she wasn't dead, Kaida and Keiji felt responsible for her almost dying, and Max was there when she got back from konoha, I'm so stupid and sorry! I deleted it to fix one spelling mistake, and i forgot to put it back in the story and then i decided to go on one of those cleaning sprees on my profile, right before i wrote over it, and then i wrote over it with this chapter...**

**i know i'm an idiot, you can tell me that i'm so sorry! I feel so stupid, i hope this chapter makes up for it XS**

Sara rolled her eyes, "Can I talk to my daughter now?!" She nagged. Max tried not to look at where she was standing, but concentrated on what Zaki was saying.

"You defiantly need to meet Gaara, he is such a great guy. You guys are going to get along great!" She told him before telling him some other stuff. Max couldn't pay attention Sara was still whining.

"I want to talk to her!"

"I don't know how, your dead woman you can't talk to her!" Max screamed silently. Zaki smiled at him he smiled back.

"At least tell her I'm dead!" Sara scolded and slapped his head, Max ducked.

"Max are you ok?" Zaki asked him looking at him weird.

"Yeah I'm fine, I just um there's something I need to tell you." Max said trying to swat at Sara's hands.

Zaki backed away, her eyes where wide with skepticism, "What? Are you ok, seriously? Cause you seem to be I don't know distracted." Sara kicked his shin.

Max winced a little, "No I'm fine I just, it's not easy to tell you this." Sara finally let Max alone. "Sara, she's, she's dead. I uh she killed herself with a bottle of morphine. I know this…isn't what you want to hear when you get back, but she just couldn't take the prospect of you…not being there. It hurt everybody I know I should have gone to comfort her, but I just I couldn't I'm so sorry." Max finished. Zaki blinked a couple of times and swallowed a huge lump in her throat.

"Thanks for telling me, I mean did I miss the funeral?" Zaki asked.

"No, its tomorrow, Allie delayed it so you could be there. She's taking care of all the expenses."

"oh, ok. How are the rest of them?"

"I think they are happier on the fact that you're not dead, and then they're sad about Sara's death. I know Allie she took the news hard. The Zoo's been closed for a couple days now, but she's better. I think your team mates and uhh sensei? Are waiting for you at the Ice cream parlor, so I can drop you off there if you want to meet them." Max new that Zaki didn't like him talking to any of his shinobi friends.

"I can always meet them later; I'd rather just….walk around town with you." Zaki whispered. Max nodded and wrapped his arms around her as they started towards anywhere.

---- - - - - -=- - -

Yamato waited with Keiji and Kaida in the Ice cream Parlor, he didn't know when Zaki would get into town. But that max guy told him she would be getting here today. It was odd, that max had walked up to him telling him that Zaki would be coming today even before the hokage new. She probably would take longer so she could see her godmother first. Max had told Yamato about Zaki's mother.

As a sensei he hated himself, he should have been the one to inform Zaki's mother about her being missing. Not some random desk shinobi, they probably made it seem that Zaki would never come back. It was all his fault that her mother was push to such…an extreme. Yamato should have known, but he was to self conceded to do anything about anybody else.

Yamato didn't know how to tell Keiji and Kaida. What was he supposed to say? Zaki might not be that happy to be back because her mother killed her self when she was away. That Zaki had lived all her life with a drug addicted mother that she was in a cheep rehab facility when she died? Yamato shook his head; he had tried to get into contact with her step father Milton, but he wasn't at home then. Yamato will keep trying though; he wasn't going to give up. From now on he will try to be more involved in his student's lives.

He wondered if it would be inapropriete for him to show up at the funeral. He didn't actually know the woman, but still he needed to show Zaki some support. Not a thing to be thinking about right now, he should just be happy Zaki was alive. A nock came from the glass, he looked up, there was Adara waving frantically, they all waved back.

---- -- -- - - -

Adara skipped into the restaurant and scooted Keiji in more. She knew it was better for her to sit next to Yamato because there was nobody else on his side of the booth. But Adara liked being close to Keiji. She smiled at Keiji, he smiled back, her heart skipped a few beats. How could he be so un affected by her? It made her angry, he could do anything and she would have to force down a blush, and he didn't even notice!!

"Zaki not here yet?" She asked with a frown, Temari had stopped by there house to yell at her brother for not being there to pick her up. Adara swore her brother was a masochist, he seemed to like it with Temari hit him, and he was such a closet pervert.

Kaida smirked, "Nope she just learned a jutsu that makes her invisible." That little kid had gotten really sarcastic, it was probably Zaki's doing. Adara rolled her eyes, sometimes sarcasm was just too much.

Keiji scrunched up his face, "why are you lying Kaida, she hasn't shown up yet, don't believe her Adara, she lies." OH HE WAS SO ADORABLE WHEN HE DIDN'T GET SARCASIM! Kaida made puffed some air out.

"I was being sarcastic." The little one replied.

"She's probably talking to her family right now; she'll come before the day is out." Yamato said.

-- -- - --- -------- -- -

Max and Zaki came up to the Zoo, it was open. "I thought you said she had closed the Zoo?" Zaki asked.

Max shrugged, "Probably needed something to do besides wait, Allie's a very impatient woman." He explained as if Zaki didn't already know, in response she rolled her eyes and laughed. Almost on Cue the short big busted woman hustled out. Zaki untangled herself from Max's arms to stand before the woman.

Allies eyes were pure steel as she looked at Zaki, and out of no where a slap landed on her face, Allie was breathing hard. "Don't ever worry me like that again young lady." Allie said her tone ice, and then right after her arms flung around her god daughter like she was the only thing substantial in the world. "I've missed you," she whispered.

Zaki was like a stick at first but then she molded into the hug happily. Allie then let go of the hug, "You have a lot of work to do miss, you better get your ass in there." She scolded pointing at the bar. Zaki smiled and was about to go in, but Max stopped her with an arm around her shoulder.

"Sorry Al but Zaki's got to go say Hi to some other people first." Max told her. Zaki looked to her god mother for permission. Allie didn't move, but her eyes softened giving silent approval.

"I want you here by 10:00 to handle the rush." She ordered Zaki chuckled.

As they turned to leave Zaki told something to Max, "That woman will never change." Max had his arm around Zaki's shoulder again as they started towards the ice cream shop.

---- -- - - - -

Keiji spotted Zaki coming up the side walk, he squinted his eyes, and there was a man with his arm around her. It was that man who had been there distraction; Max that was what his name was. Max the hippy with long hair and a bad smell. Keiji's protective instincts took over Max was way too old to be romantically involved with Zaki. He would talk to her later about it though tonight was a cause for celebration. Right before they reached the door Max kissed Zaki on the head and left her there, she entered.

"Hey guys!" She said.

There was a chorus of heys in return Adara ran up to Zaki and gave her a big hug. Which the grey haired girl didn't return. "Hey Adara."

"ZAKI I'M SO GLAD YOU ARE NOT DEAD!" Adara squealed, Keiji noted that Adara looked kind of cute when she squealed, Keiji then shook his head at that, Adara was his best friend he shouldn't be calling her cute. He liked Hinabi that way, he always had, right? Again not something he should be thinking about right now. He could like one girl and think that another was cute…even if that other was his best friend. And there relationship would never develop anything beyond being platonic.

Keiji looked over towards Kaida; she was all white and was glued to her spot. She seemed like she saw a ghost. Zaki sat down by Yamato who smiled at her. "Hey Keiji."

"Hey Zaki," He smiled at her, giving her the biggest one he could find.

Zaki looked over to Kaida "Hey there sprout."

Kaida didn't say anything back, her small hands grabbed at the table until they were white. Her breathing was becoming harsh. "I…uh I, I have to go to bathroom." She squeaked getting up and leaving the table as fast as possible. Zaki followed her right away, it being obvious something was wrong.

---- - - -- ---- -- -

Kaida couldn't believe she was doing this! She had promised her self to be tough, that she wouldn't care what Zaki thought anymore. But Zaki was being NICE! Zaki was pretending to like her and that hurt her more then she had suspected it would. Kaida didn't want any pity love; she didn't want Zaki to see her as week. Kaida wanted Zaki to look at her as an equal but no she looked at her like a defenseless little kid!

Kaida barged into the bathroom breathing hard, she leaned on the sink. This was ridiculous. "Kaida?" Zaki's voice asked from behind her. COME ON GIRL SNAP OUT OF IT!

"Y-yes?" She sniffled.

Zaki put her hands on Kaida's shoulder, "Come on kiddo, what's wrong?"

"You don't have to pretend to be nice to me you know! I know you hate me." Kaida snapped at Zaki tearing herself away from the other girl, eyes finally meeting hers. Kaida couldn't believe the unique Hazel Zaki's eyes where. To her utter horror there was no sorrow in those eyes not even anger, Kaida could handle those feelings. There was humor in those brown eyes, and the grey haired girl began to laugh.

"Kaida, do you really think I'm that kind of person?" Zaki asked getting down on her knees to Kaida's level. "When was the last time I was nice to anybody I didn't want to be?" She asked. Kaida had to think, Zaki was never nice to people, not even to people she liked. Kaida could now find the humor in the situation.

She wiped the tears away, "Your right, that was pretty stupid, but, you don't ….hate me do you?" Kaida promised herself that she was not going to ask that question but she just couldn't help it.

Zaki laughed again, "Why would I hate you?"

"Because it was due to my incompetence that you almost died in the first place, if I wouldn't have looked over at Itachi, you would never have had to go through that." Kaida explained

Zaki gave her shoulder a squeeze, a sign of affection the oldest girl seemed most comfortable with. "That's a stupid reason to hate anybody. And anyway it was a really fun experience I got to meet the Kazekage, and he's a really cool dude. So I think I enjoyed the experience." Zaki explained.

Kaida sniffled, "So you wouldn't change anything even if it did happen again?"

Zaki kept her mouth open thinking about the question, "You know what, lets get you cleaned up, and your face is all red. Like a little raspberry." The grey haired girl then got up and took a paper towl from the dispenser.

--- - - - -----

Max walked towards the Zoo. Sara bopped into his line of sight. "You know there's been a woman following you for the past 5 blocks."

"Really?" Max asked looking behind him, sure enough a small blond woman waved seductively at him.

"Do you know her Max?" Sara asked him.

"I…don't recognize her, I think its ruth, maybe kay anne? Um I probably slept with her the way she is waving at me, but I don't remember." Max admitted the blond was at his side and took his arm in hers.

"Hi Max, you busy tonight?" She asked.

"Uhh, why?"

"Well, I just was wondering if you would like a repeat of a couple weeks ago, with me and my girl friends at my apartment?"

"Did she just offer you to have a three way with her and one of her friends?" Sara asked in disbelief. Max was trying to see if he ever got a hold of this woman's name. So it was only a couple weeks ago, so it was before Zaki went missing.

It hit him like a ton of bricks, that Anbu he had seduced in becoming the distraction for Zaki and her friends. It wasn't the tall girl with ruddy brown hair, it was one of her friends she had invited over to have fun with him that night. They were both amazing; he remembered the third girl had a great moan. But this one was the frisky one the one that had liked to be spanked. "I…uh…" Damm it he never got her name!

"My names not important." She smiled seductively leaning closer; Max pulled himself away from her.

"Look lady, I'm sorry but I've decided to become Celibate for a couple of years." He told her. The lady looked like she had just been slapped.

"What?" She asked her voice rising shrilly, "Celibate?! Celibate?!"

"Yes, as In I'm not going to have sex, with anyone." Max explained backing away, this woman was scary. Then out of nowhere Max got slapped in the face.

"YOU can't be celibate, for the good of the all woman kind in Konoha, you can NOT be celibate! You have to have sex; I don't care if it's with me. But Kami gave you a gift, you should use it!" She was nearly shouting those words. People stop to stare at him. Max didn't say anything; finally the blond stomped off in her anger.

Max stayed there for a while, "Wow, Max that's impressive, a woman just slapped you for not trying to have sex with her. What did you do to make her so, um upset?"

Max still didn't know how to take that encounter, should he be flattered? He didn't' think that was appropriate. An old man with white hair and a big nose come bounding up to you. "I don't know who you are young man, but let me shake your hand."

Ok today was weird, "um my names max, what's yours?"

"My names Jiriya, I write the icha Icha series." He introduced himself with an air of pride.

"Oh I've never read those books." Max told the old man. The old man winked at him.

"I can see that you live them though." He told max poking him in the side. "Let me buy you a drink and you can tell me all about it." Ew Max had to get away from this pervert.

"Sorry I have to go." He untangled himself from the old man and started running away.

--- - ----- - - - - - - =- ----

The next morning Zaki got ready at Max's place, she was wearing a pencil black skirt that went just beyond her knee's, a skirt her mother used to own. Her earrings where gold lightning shaped passed on by her father, apparently old family heirlooms. Her shirt was new, it was a blue Kimono looking top that had storm cloud design on it. It was beautiful with her hair. She looked absolutely stunning. "Where did you get that top?"

Zaki looked down and blushed slightly, "Gaara-kun told me I could keep it, it used to be his sisters but she's too big for it now."

Its Gaara-kun now is it? He mentally snarled, since she's been home Zaki had named dropped that name more then once. Quite often actually 'Gaara's the kazekage' 'Gaara loves Beverly hillbillies' 'Gaara had snot pretzels' 'Gaara saved my life' Gaara this Gaara that! Max didn't' know who this Gaara was, but he didn't like that man one stinking bit.

Max shook his head he shouldn't care, Zaki loved him right? Max loved Zaki, but she never told him that she loved him. Max hadn't told her that he loved her, but she had stopped him every time he tried.

Max put on his suit. He was wearing's Zaki's fathers suit, they had snuck into her house and taken the things they had needed. They didn't know when Milton would be back and Zaki didn't want to cause a seen so she said she would take all her stuff out later. Milton fit the suit perfectly. Zaki smiled at him, "You look good."

"You too. That top…its perfect for you."

Zaki took his arm and leaned her head against it, "Lets get this over with."

-- -- - ------ - -

Gai got ready for the funeral, technically he wasn't invited, but he had to go. He owed it to Sara. He was wearing a dark brown nearly black suit, with a white shirt underneath. No tie ties were for old men.

Gai didn't go to the ceremony, he wouldn't have wanted to be called out, but he decided to go to when they buried her. Sara, he couldn't believe he didn't even go check on her when he had heard the news about Zaki. He had been so stupid.

Sneaking up on the grave yard was almost too easy; he stayed at the very back barely able to here what was being said. There were about 20 people there. His eyes automatically fell on Allie, her head was bowed and she was listening intently to the priest talking. Right to her left was Sara's daughter, Zakuro. To her right a tall young man with blond hair and blue eyes. The priest stopped and people started to leave, each going up to speak to either Allie or Zaki, maybe the young man.

Zaki was wearing a blue kimono like top with a cloud design. And gold lightning earrings. He remember Zak telling him that the Nariko's used to be a huge and powerful clan but were wiped out by the uchiha's and those earrings were the only thing left from them. Nariko meant Storm.

The crowd quickly thinned and soon enough there was only Allie, Zaki and that boy left. The boy took Zaki in his arm and the couple said goodbye to Allie and left. Gai walked up to the grave. But not before noticing that the boy was wearing Zak's suit.

Gai walked up towards the back of Allie, she was talking to the priest and he was taking money from the funeral. This wasn't right Gai should be the one paying for this not Allie. The Priest left the grieving woman alone.

Allie was like stone the stone she was looking at. No emotion showing from her face. She had a black brimmed hat on and an old vintage black dress on. A tinge of recognition pained Gai. That used to be Allie's aunts dress. The old lady had let Allie get married to him in that dress, because it was the only one she could find. Gai had told her that night that he would become as successful as a ninja that he would be able to pay for her to have as many dresses as she had ever wanted. But he never got her a new dress. And right now, even if he gave her 10 dresses for every moment he wasn't there when she needed him he still wouldn't be able to make up for any of it.

"Why are you here?" Her voice asked trying to retain itself from cracking.

"I just wanted to see the funeral."

Allie gave a small choke, "Is that so?"

"Yes its so." Gai replied he wanted to walk closer to Allie to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be all right. But in the end he couldn't do it. That was a different women then the girl he had left.

"You were right." She said holding back a sob.

"What?" Gai didn't understand what she was talking about.

" You told me that I would systematically run off every body I cared for, and its true I did. First it was you, then Zak and now Sara. But I confess I didn't think I would be able to scare you guys off so permanently. Hell two of you left life all together." Gai winced he remembered that argument where he said that to her. It hadn't been his strongest moment. Allie's voice broke into a sob, "And I don't know what hurts more, the two of them leaving life or you just leaving a living." He shoulders were shuddering from the tears falling down her face.

Gai wanted to reach up and hug her, tell her he was back never ever leaving again. His hand was almost at her shoulder, she backed away from it like it was death itself. "DON'T you touch me, you can't touch me you gave up that right to long ago Gai." She suddenly turned to him her eyes like fire, "HELL you gave up the right to be here years ago Gai! You don't belong here!"

"Allie…please."

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO LEAVE?" Allie screamed. Gai backed away.

"This will be the last time, I promise." He told her.

Allie snorted, "Cause you've kept such a good track record with your promises." Gai winced at her words.

"No this one I'll keep." Gai said, and taking a deep breath he turned around and started walking away from her. And every step he took he wanted her to scream after him to beg him to come back. He needed Allie to stop being so god dam proud, he would come running through hell and back for her. But she had to ask him. This is why they would never work out, both Allie and him were to stubborn, she was too stubborn to forgive him, and he was too stubborn to tell her he loved her.


	25. Getting off to a good start

Yamato had paced all night, today was the day of the chunnin exams. Oh, god! It wasn't fair! He shouted in his head, the rest of the teams got like months to get ready for this, but because Zaki was missing for so long, they only had 1 week to prepare. Only one week, and he didn't know how to practice for the chunnin exams, it was tough! And Kaida and Keiji and oh god oh god oh god! Why couldn't he be cool? Like Kakashi, Kakashi seemed like the epitome of cool but Yamato was lame and now his teams going to go to exams and then they might fail and that would reflect on him as a teacher and everybody will be like oh wow that wasn't a surprise Yamato can't teach worth crap and!

COOL IT! He had to stop his rambling from going on, it wasn't good confidence builder. Kaida, Keiji and Zaki were on there own. He couldn't help them, at all, he would just have to you know…trust them. Yamato was worried, he couldn't do anything! He felt so helpless.

What to do?!

Go to the bar Duhhhh, that's what you do. But it was only 9Am! A little voice told him, you shouldn't go to the bar at 9 in the morning, at least wait until noon! But the exams start in 30 minuets, the little voice then conceded, screw it go get drunk!

See Yamato had a plan, kind of.

-- - -- ------- -

Adara walked to the Chunnin exams with Keiji. "Sooo…"

"So……" Keiji replied.

"We might have to verse each others in the exam…" Adara stated she didn't know what to do; she could never hurt Keiji in a fight.

Keiji stopped, and looked at her, oh his eyes looked especially deep today, and beautiful and, snap out of it Adara. You are not a fan girl, repeat, NOT A FAN GIRL! "Truce? My team will help your team if your team helps my team? Were both from the same country." Keiji put it nicely. "IT can't hurt at all, at worst we will avoid each others team entirely."

"But what if they force us to fight; I mean you're my best friend Keiji, I…" Love you that's what Adara wanted to say, but she didn't. Because that would be lame and clingy and it would scare Keiji away, Adara had to bite her lip.

Keiji looked at her bite her lip and wondered if she knew how cute she looked when she did that? Keiji would never hurt Adara, he couldn't even if she was drawing a kunai and attacking him, Keiji would never hurt Adara. He would rather climb the highest mountain in Konoha wearing only a Speedo and having barb wire as his harness. Keiji cared for Adara, she was his best friend. People shouldn't hurt their best friends. "We'll deal with that when it occurs, if it occurs."

Adara gave a nervous giggle, "Your right, I mean there are going to be hundreds of people there; there are a very little chance we will actually fight each other."

"Totally what time is it?" Keiji asked.

"9.05"

"Your brother's part of the exams right, he helps set them up right?"

"Yeah,"

"Did he give you any you know pointers." Keiji asked. Adara sighed, Shikimaru was no help like usual, she begged, she threatened she yelled she screamed. Guy didn't give her one lousy pointer he was the worst brother in the world!

"No! believe me I tried to get something out of him, all he did was say that once you get in there you have to act like everything is hostile. Like I didn't know that all ready, urgh he is soo!" Keiji put his hand on Adara's shoulder; she didn't need to be this worked up. She needed to go in there with a cool head.

"Your meeting your team there right?" Keiji asked.

"Yes, Neji all ready believes that Hinabi will become a Chunnin, he is afraid that Lee and I will hold her back." Adara spat.

Keiji looked grave, "Did he say that to you?"

"Not in those exact words, I don't know I'm just, it's a lot of pressure, Shikimaru only had to go to the Chunnin exams once and I don't know. He didn't even try he gave up his fight in the last exam! And he still got Chunnin, and even if I win all my fights I still won't make Chunnin. It's not fair, Shikimaru does absolutely nothing and people are still like 'Shikimaru so smart' 'Shikimaru we are going to give another promotion' 'Shikimaru' I'll work my ass of and all I'll get is, 'Your ok Adara, Your still need a lot of work." I don't' know it…sorry I'm ranting Keiji"

"You think to negatively of yourself, you got plenty of things Shikimaru doesn't," Adara glowered at him. "Like a work ethic." Keiji decided to shut up this wasn't going anywhere.

"Come on lets get going, we don't want to be late." Adara seethed.

-- - - - ---- - -

Kaida bounced to the Chunnin exams, Yo in her arms. She had her mother put pig tails in her head and she wore her pink overalls, she had the legs cut of at the knee's though. Her shirt had strips of candy colors and her socks matched. She looked adorable and innocent and all together cheek pinching cute. Kaida felt like if she wore this long enough she might actually become those things, the thought kind of made her stomach churn.

It was 9:15 when she reached the main building; this was going to be a long day. She looked at the sign. Chunnin exams room 213 should be on the second floor. As she walked in noted that the first floor signs all were in the one hundreds. Something wasn't right; maybe it was the way the lights flickered or the way the signs seemed to be changing. Her neck hairs prickled, everything told her that this whole place had a Genjutsu on it.

Yamato hadn't taught them a lot about genjutsu's, but Kaida had been studying them on the side. She shuddered remembering what it was like in that mans stare. Genjutsu's where powerful and tricky, technically they were easy to get out of. In theory anyway but being trapped in your own fears is not a situation anyone wants to go through. And all her senses and reading told her that this was a genjutsu's. Probably the room numbers, was this the first test? If so Kaida was glad that they got the genjutsu part over with.

Kaida took a deep breath, and gathered her chakra to her eyes, it was only a theory but theory says if you gather enough chakra to your eyes you could see through genjutsu but its risky, it's so you can constantly fight users. It's difficult and usually Kaida couldn't do it, but she had been practicing since she got back from the last mission. Kaida was never going to be caught in something like that again. Opening her eyes Kaida saw the room numbers, instead of the 114 it was room 56 that means room 213 was on the third floor. Kaida walked up to the second floor she had to find Keiji, He was with a bunch of other competitors, about 20 all together waiting in front of the restroom, how to get Keiji's attention without telling everyone else that it was a track. Kaida had an idea!

"KEIJI!" She squealed. Some people looked over, most didn't. Keiji looked at her confused.

"Kaida?" He asked, Kaida noticed Adara next to Keiji; her team was waiting with her, if she caught on to what Kaida was trying to say, oh well.

"Keiji! I got to go to the bathroom!" She whined, it was like an annoying high pitched whisper.

"Ok, go I'm not stopping you." Keiji replied he was looking at her like she was crazy.

"I think we SHOULD ALL go to the bathroom before hand just in case," Kaida looked desperately at Adara If she would get what she was saying. The auburn haired girl narrowed her eyes at Kaida, she new her well enough to know that the eight year old girl never acted like this. Realization dawned on the older girls face. "I think we should all go to the bathroom, it's a good idea." Adara gave Keiji a look and Keiji finally got it.

"Oh Ok, lets go!" Keiji said a little loudly, more people looked over. Adara and her two team mates, Kaida didn't know there name they all walked up one flight of stare. There was no genjutsu on this floor.

"What were we waiting in line for?" The other girl on Adara's team asked.

"The bathroom" Kaida replied sweetly. The girl was beautiful in a cold hawk like manner. Her hair was an unassuming brown, but it was her tanned skin and her moon like eyes that made her beauty haunting and unforgettable.

The girl raised an eyebrow, "I see," She eyed Kaida with a new respect.

When they walked into the room it was a lot bigger then all of them expected, there was about 30 people in there. A bouncy blond with big hair and a bigger bust bounced over to Adara and the other girl. "Oh my god, you guys I was so worried about you! Its 9:18 and you weren't here yet, and I was like 'they must have been run over or smushed in an accident because Hinabi would want all of them to be there at least 30 minuets early.' But it's ok you guys are here. LEE! OMG I haven't seen you since graduation!" The bubbly blond then went over and gave Adara's male team mate a hug, he stiffened and blushed. Kaida wondered if her bubbly ruse was like her ruse or if she just naturally talked that fast. The blond haired girl then set her eyes on Keiji. "Oh…You've grown Keiji." Her voice lowered down a couple of levels as she looked at Kaida's team mate.

"Hi Kristi," Keiji smiled blushing a little at the blonds attention. The blond then locked her eyes on Kaida.

"Awww, this must be Kaida, she is sooo adorable!" The blond leaned over and pinched Kaida's cheeks. The blond reached out her hand, "Hi my names Kristi I graduated with Keiji from the academy, and you must be one smart girl to be at the chunnin exams all ready."

Kaida smiled "Just lucky, Yo's my good luck charm!" Kaida held up Yo in her arms.

"Hey Yo, how are you doing today?" Kristi asked the bear.

"He says he's doing ok, but he's kind of nervous for the exam." Kristi winked at her.

"He's gonna do fine." The blond comforted her. She then looked over at the others. "I'm going to talk to the big kids now ok?" Her voice sounded like Kaida was the stupidest person ever, Kaida just smiled at Kristi and silently wished for her untimely demise.

-- -- - ---- - - - ---

Keiji didn't understand why Kaida was acting like the little girl. It made her look defenseless and dumb. He looked at the clock it was 9:24 Zaki was no where to be seen. He couldn't go see if she was stuck in the genjutsu because they didn't want to attract attention to the fact that those people were getting duped. More people started streaming in, none of them were Zaki. Keiji looked over at Kaida, both of them were worried. Zaki had never done well with time limits. Adara gave him a warning glance to stop fidgeting. Kristi's team, Adara's team and his team all made a pact to try to help each other when ever possible.

It was weird; Parker was being nice to him. The torment of his life all through the academy was being mature and social towards him. Like he forgot that he used to publicly abuse his incepted in front of class. Parker was handsome with jet black skin and bleached blond hair and blue eyes. It was an odd combination he pulled of well. Keiji could see out of the corner of his eye Adara eyeing Parker up with a small smile on her face. Did she like Parker that way…Keiji hoped not?

Adara looked at Parker and smiled. From what Kristi had told her about Parker, he hadn't improved much since the academy, and Keiji the boy he used to pick on like there was no tomorrow. Had just excelled at everything he did sense there, goes to show that a friendly environment can help a person learn. Parker was going to be crushed by someone he used to think was inferior to him and it made her smile.

Micah was Kristi's other partner; Kristi never really talked about him much. He was unassuming with chin length strawberry blond hair and big coke rimmed glasses. When he walked he slouched a little and he was a stuttered. But he had always been really sweet. It was plane to everyone except Kristi was the reason he was so nervous around her was because he liked her a lot. Gosh even Keiji knew and he was as dumb as a rock when it comes to romantic signals. Not that that was a bad thing she found it quit cute. She looked at the clock 9:25 where was Zaki.

-- -- - -- -

Max was up and out of bed shaking Zaki violently awake when was that thing she had to get ready for? Was it 10:30, so he was getting her up so she could have a good breakfast before hand. He didn't understand these people who wanted to start things before noon, it wasn't human it wasn't right. But you know Shinobi were really weird.

"Wha…What time is it?" Zaki mumbled as she stumbled out of bed.

"Well I decided to wake you up an hour before hand so its 9:20" Max smiled at her. He was so considerate.

"Max…" Her voice became very grave.

"When do you think it starts?" She asked.

Max frowned "didn't you say 10:30 last night?" He asked, her face became extremely white. She started towards the door.

"I have 6 minuets to get down there!"

"At least put some pants on!" Max yelled after her, she was wearing an old t-shirt what was 5 times to big for her and some of max's boxer's shorts. She rushed and took his Pink bunny slippers with out asking and her ninja pack.

"I'm going be back I don't know when! Bye bye." She ran out the door taking her skateboard from the stand.

Zaki had to pump chakra into her feet to go faster, this was ridiculous. How the hell did Max get 10:30 out of 9:30?! She saw the building in sight, thank god. What time was it, check sun prolly about 9:27. Zaki wasn't looking and she slammed into somebody.

A big burley man fell down in front of her. Spilling a bunch of papers in front of him. Zaki wanted to stop to help him but hell, she had places to be, she was 5 feet from him, then Keiji's voice popped into her head, 'being a ninja is about helping and caring for even the most annoying of people' Dam him, Zaki turned around and started gathering the papers together frantically.

"Sorry sir, I'm kind of going to be late for those stupid chunnin exams and oh god I only have 2 more minuets! Um sorry I would love to help more but I got to go, I'm so sorry if I ever see you again I'll, urgh I'm sorry I have to leave!" Zaki ranted rushing and flinging the papers into the mans face.

Zaki barely stopped to look at the map, oh ok, 3rd floor 313, good. Running to the steps faster then she had even thought possible, she would not be the one to let Keiji and Kaida down! Not again anyway! About 15 people stood in front of the bathroom, must be here for something else. Zaki ran past them and hurtled up the steps 3 at a time skate board in hand.

--- - --- -- - - - - -

It was 9:29 no sign of Zaki, Keiji was sweating literally. 20 more seconds before the man was going to shut the door. A chunnin sat up and started to the door, where the hell was Zaki! His hand reached the door but before he could shut it a skate board got in its way. "I'm here, I'm here!" A reashuringly familure voice said. Zaki stepped in and panted heavily.

"Sorry miss you're late," The man said trying to push her out of the room.

"No I'm not!" Zaki pointed to the clock, the second hand was 3 seconds to turn into 9:30. The man sighed and let her in. Keiji raised an Eyebrow, Her waist length grey hair wasn't combed and looked windswept. She was in a big black t-shirt that had a name of an obscure band on it. And she was wearing silk boxers that had teddy bears and hearts all over it. Her Ninja pack was falling of her leg because it wasn't used to sticking to silk. On her feet was pink bunny slippers Zaki looked like crap, but it didn't matter, she was here and on time.

"Ok time to take your seats." The chunnin exams. He gave them all assigned seats, "Now just sit here and wait till the proctor comes." Keiji took his seat which was too small for him and made him feel ridiculous,

"He's not here yet?!" Zaki said increduasly, "You mean I rushed over here for nothing!" She was about to go on a swearing tirade until she saw Keiji.

A burly man with scars in his face and a trench coat came in. "Hello, My names Morino Ibiki, I'm going to be your first exam proctor." He started, but was interrupted by a little hand sticking up and waving frantically. "Yes?!" He asked his voice on edge. No wonder he looked like he had just been run over, all his papers were strained un evenly around the desk. IT was Kaida she was at the very back of the class.

Keiji looked back and had to hold back a laugh; Kaida was in a chair that was way too big for her and her head was the only thing that reached above the desk her chin had to strain to rest on the desk. "Could I get a new chair please? Or at least you know cushions please?" She said in her most innocent voice. The proctor's eyes twitched a little. Keiji stood up.

"Here Kaida take my seat, its way to small for me," Keiji offered not even thinking about the implications. He stepped back towards Keiji.

"STOP RIGHT THERE YOUNG MAN!" Ibiki shouted, Keiji stopped mid step and tried to look back but didn't succeed. His up foot ended up on Zaki's skate board which he didn't expect to be there, it rolled dangerously far away from him, Keiji not wanting to look like he was doing the splits rolled it closer to him. Not a good idea with the momentum the skateboard went flying backward and Keiji ended up tripping on himself and crashing into a set of tables, breaking the table. He heard a growl from the start of the room. The proctor's face was red and he was holding his nose, Zaki's skate board had flown through the air and smacked the first exam proctor right in the face. Keiji wondered if this day could get any worse.

--- -- - -- - -- --

Adara watched the scene in front of her in slight shock and utter horror. Keiji had broken the table in front of Kristi, Lee and some girl from the sand country. The proctor was holding his nose because it was broken and it was bleeding on to the papers on his desk. Which were cluttered everywhere cause the proctor came in with an unusual tizzy. The proctor was holding up the skate board. "Who's is this?" He demanded to know, Adara looked over to Zaki, who was crouched down in fear but held her hand up anyway.

"Mine sir." She stammered. A dawn of recognition crossed his face. And his eye twitched.

"Who are your team mates?" He asked, Kaida raised her hand in the back and Keiji still on the floor raised his hands. "ALL OF YOU STAND UP!" He barked they did. Zaki got up in such a hurry she nearly fell back ward but didn't' cause she used Hinabi's braid to pull herself up.

"Hey!" The Hyuuga shouted.

"Sorry!" Zaki said, giving a nervous smile.

"ALL THREE OF YOU IN THE FRONT OF THE ROOM…NOW!" Morino roared. They all scooted up there. Keiji holding his ankle, Kaida holding Yo in her arms, Zaki scooted up there and took the skate board from the furious proctor.

The three looked quite hysterical, Zaki dressed like she just got out of bed, Kaida looked like she belonged in a play ground somewhere, and Keiji still had chunks of table in his hair. They all smiled weekly.

--- -- ----- --

Kaida couldn't believe that they would be kicked out before it even started! So it wasn't her fault her chair was too big, ok yes it was because while she was waiting for Zaki she had scratched a code both Keiji and her new into the chair, so they could communicate. She peeked at the list and got there seating arrangement just right, the skateboard thing not her fault though, she was guiltless.

The proctors voice was shaking, "You-ou three, are the epitome of what you are not supposed to be when you are a shinobi. You!" He pointed to Keiji who winced, "Are clumsy and idiotic who doesn't look at his surroundings. And you!" He pointed at Zaki who just crossed her arms "You look like a disgrace like you don't care what's happening, where's your head band. You also need to know you just can't leave things around where people can step on them." His voice was slowly rising, Kaida was shaking, but not with fear with anger, this man was no shinobi who was he to yell at her team mates! Nobody so he had a broken nose! It wasn't that big of deal. But before his fat finger could point to her a beautiful voice from the back of the room came up.

"Hey Ibiki, leave the kids alone." Kaida looked over, it was Kiba. Akamaru was at his side and barked in agreement. "You have no power to push them out of exams because of this. We get a new table and we start late." He defended.

Kaida looked at him, the sun show through the windows and surrounded him with light. Kaida gulped. "Now Ibiki, let the big guy go in the big chair and the small one sit in the small chair, it makes sense. I all ready sent people for a new table." The beautiful man said strolling up the aisle, Kaida made her eyes look big and innocent. Kiba looked at her and she could tell right away her could see through her ruse, and somehow that made her happy. That he didn't think she was a dumb little kid. Kiba was now up near them, and he put his hand on Ibiki which made the older man angrier. "Maybe you should step outside for a few minuets to get your composure together, I can take over from here."

"I've been doing this for 12 years now, Inuzaki I can handle this." Ibiki hissed, Kiba lifted his hand from Ibiki's shoulder.

"What ever suit you dude." He said giving up, but even though he was technically giving up he made his posture look non challant and cool.

"Everyone back to their seats, you two!" Ibiki said pointing at Keiji and Kaida, "Switch seats. Let's get this started!"

**Hey everyone, I hope you like the chapter the beginning of a new arc is in the air **

**:D Yeah!!!! **

**RnR even flames are permitted. **


	26. The first Chunin Exam

**I got all the rules from the manga directly, so I know this is how the first exam goes :P Do I have to make a disclaimer that? Oh well! :D I hope you apreciate all the trouble I had to go through to get it. **

**Please answer this question, do you think more people would read this story if it was A Yamato/Gai fic, then just a Yamato fic? **

**Also i might start doing scenes on the borderline between T-M But thats a while from now, just wanted to warn you!**

After the room had settled down and the papers that Ibiki had bled all over were passed out the man stood up and started talking. "Now that we have finally settled down, lets get started the papers before are the written part of the chunnin exams," No really?! Kaida was itching all over to make that sly remark, she caught Kiba's eye. She knew he was thinking the same thing. "Do not turn your test over and listen closely to what I'm about to say. There are a lot of rules in the first exam, I will not take ANY question, do you understand me miss?" Morino shot at Kaida, She tried to look innocent, what she really wanted to do was stick her tongue out at him. But she saw that Kiba did that for her. "The first rule is that you guys will start out with 10 points. The test is made up of 10 questions 1 point each, but this test uses the subtraction system. Basically if you answer all 10 questions right you get all 10 points, if you answer you keep 10 points. If you miss three questions, you'll get 7 points. Is that clear?"

Ibiki shot Zaki a dirty look, she was trying not to fall asleep, and she mentally cursed the guy for putting her in the front. "The second rule is whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your team mates." NO FAIR! Kaida shouted in her brain. Zaki was pretending to be asleep; at least Kaida hoped she was pretending. Keiji was sweet and she loved him dearly, but he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the box. Oh well if they didn't make it she would just have to drill them for the next test.

"And the third most important rule is that if anyone caught doing sneaky activities, AkA cheating, will have 2 points subtracted for every offense." Kaida rolled her eyes, who would be stupid enough to cheat during this exam? She looked over at Keiji his eyes were furrowed what wasn't he getting these rules were simple enough. "We will have our eyes on you guys, realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be destroying themselves, as shinobi trying to achieve the level of chunnin be proud ninja."

"Now the final rule, those that lose their initial points during the test, and those that don't answer any question correctly, will be failed along with their two team mates. Now get going."

Kaida looked at the sheet, these question were hard they required either years of studying from a book or years from experience. And what was with question number ten? 'This question will be revealed 45 minuets after the test has begun. Listen to the examiner closely before answering.' Kaida puffed her bangs out of her hair, time to get to work.

---- - - ------

Keiji was disgusted at this exam, why would they let anybody cheat? People who cheated never got anywhere in life that's how his grandfather always taught him, they should just kick those people out right away! He was right people who cheated were pathetic, Keiji looked at the test.

….

….

…

…

…

.

.

…………………….

Oh god, that's why people cheated! These questions were hard, Kaida probably could answer them. Keiji looked over to Zaki, she was sleeping!!!

Keiji narrowed his eyes at the paper; most people would not be able to answer these questions. Keiji knew he was dumber then most, but even average people were going to have trouble. Be a proud shinobi, but some shinobi weren't like him. He was a brutal tank of battle, his clan name said that enough, "One who looses no battle" That's what Keitaru meant. But not every shinobi was a good fighter; some were good at cryptology and tactical thinking like Shikimaru. There was so much to being a shinobi….

A proud shinobi, which was an odd thing to say. Some shinobi weren't even the smartest or the strongest, some were sneaky. The picture of Zaki handing him the bells when they first met popped into his head. She hadn't been smart or fast or even strong, frankly Zaki in Tai jutsu only battles was sad to see, she was horrible at it, and didn't really try to get better. Her Ninjutsu was above average if nothing else. But what did she do, she got into Yamato's thinking how he acted what he thought of them at the time. Zaki got into his head. That's what Keiji needed to do now.

He looked over at the other chunnin surrounding the walls; they were all marking down something, probably people they caught cheating. There were a lot of marks going down. Lots of teams getting caught, Keiji looked over to Adara who was smirking; she was smart enough to get these answers even if she would never tell herself she was.

Keiji's eyes drifted down to her slender hand, how it daintily flew across the paper, he loved her handwriting, by the movements of her hand Keiji could tell she had just written a K then an E and then a I she was writing his name? Keiji started copying her movements.

Keiji get your head in the game you dumb dolt! You can't lose your cool now; come on you can do it, just look at your chair.

Keiji didn't look down he didn't want to attract attention. He slowly lowered his head like he gave up; On his chair was a bunch of odd dots. A kunai flew across the room, it landed on somebody's paper, "You OUT!" A team stood up. It had been 7 minuets all ready. On his chair were little dots like somebody chewed at it? A combination of dots reminded him of the Hokage Mountain. There was the first, second third, that reminded him of the day they talked about what they wanted to do. What had Kaida wanted to do, restore glory to her fragmented clan? That didn't help him any, he looked at the other clusters. Each was a different shape or something, what did he say he wanted to do that day? He wanted to learn how to control himself, which he had immensely. He never had to count to ten any more. Wait a second….

All the clusters were arranged in a number of tens. There were ten clusters of ten, One for each question, why the hokage heads? How many dots were there, She used …Another couple of Numbers were called out having people leave. Lots of people were leaving. Keiji had to look around; the room was diminished by a third. None of the teams he graduated with were gone.

Back to this code, she tapped once, first question, two to the left. Ok that was a swirl, shape, she started turning her hair. One turn, two turns 2, is it a B or a two, it was a math question, so it must be a two. Ok he was getting this now.

--- -- --

Kaida hoped that he would get the dots were symbols of different types of chocolates. In the Ice cream parlor they also served chocolates, and they gave you a list of the different symbols on the chocolate said what type of chocolate it was. She hopped that he would get it, but really what else could it be? Kaida looked over at Adara; she was the only one smirking through out the test. Zaki was still asleep.

--- -- - - - -

Adara knew the story of Morino Ibiki, he was the top Interrogator of Konoha. She had read the book he written on interrogation. No wonder he was so flustered, the first thing in the book was that you need to make sure that you are always in control of the situation. The interrogator needs to be smooth and unpredictable. The little display of Keiji, Kaida, Zaki and Kiba made him look incompetent and hot tempered. He showed them that he wasn't in control, which was bad, it means if he tried any of his mind games on them there would be a less likely chance of success. And the mind games were bound to happen.

There was a reason he was in charge of this exam, not only was it a test on the skills to gather information, but to see if you could cope with high pressure situations. He was here to make them uncomfortable and be unpredictable changing temperaments quickly and not staying on one topic for too long was one of the main things he had stressed in the book.

The tenth question just oozed out something interrogators would do, she wouldn't be surprised if he changed the rules on them right before he gave them that question. IT would be an easy enough move, flustering some people. Though her and her father had disagreements on most things she was happy he was such a high level Jounin. He talked about a lot of people and a lot of stuff that most people wouldn't know about; especially when Uncle Chouza and Uncle Inoichi were around they were a whole slew of information to be gathered there. She sometimes sat on the top of the stairs at night listening to their information and absorbing. At first it was just because she used to like to hear her father's voice, but now it was because the information could be useful in the future.

Morino Ibiki had come up in many talks; he made her father and two uncles uncomfortable. That had to say something, so when she had seen a book by Morino Ibiki she had to pick it up. Of course it was in a restricted section and she had to use the transformation jutsu to look like her dad to get it, it was totally worth it. The book had been a fascination too her. It kind of made her embarrassed, girls her age weren't supposed to be fascinated by intense interrogation sessions but she was.

Adara wrote down the answers, she was glad Keiji got her note, she had scene Kaida tapping her chair and sneaking glances back at Keiji. Kaida was not one to complain about seating, Adara knew there was a reason she wanted to switch seats. So she gave Keiji a hint, hopefully he got it.

Adara looked over at Kristi; she wondered how her team was communicating. Kristi's specialization was poison, she knew that. Looking over at Keiji she couldn't help but see that Zaki had finally lifted up her head and was writing something down on her paper.

-- - - - -

Zaki was smiling, she was so happy she was late this morning. If she hadn't bumped into that man she would be in deep shit right now. So as she was frantically trying to help him pick up papers she had seen glimpses of the sheet. Which said, 'first chunnin exams on it' and the gods were smiling down on her today, she had picked up the answer sheet and forgot to give it back. So right now she was just copying answers from the answer sheet. The only problem was that it didn't have what question number ten was. Nothing she could prepare. She looked to her left, kid names Micah kind of loserish looking. He slumped down on the paper sweating from the tension. Looking to her right showed the ice Queen Hinabi, she looked stunning with her hair in an uncommon French braid it also made her look like she was a little uptight. Oh wait a second she was!

She looked up she was amazed at how long it took her to look at the answers and secretly write them down with people thinking she was sleeping. But now it was time to leave this Ibiki guy a little note. She had 5 minuets to spare; she could use it to mess with the guys head.

-- - - - - --

Keiji was worried; he didn't think he deciphered Kaida's clues correctly. Cause for answer number 4 the cryptology one; she had signified the answer was, 'the butterscotch pig flew across the pneumonia sky.' That was the sentence he could make out the most. Crap there was only 2 minuets left, he guessed that he would have to rely on the last question. Finally that rough voice broke his worry, "Put your pencils down, its time for the tenth question." Everyone stopped and looked up.

--- -- - --

When Morino found that he had everyone's attention he continued; "Ok now we will begin the 10 question."

"Now before get to it, I would like to go over the added rules for this question." Kaida looked up; this guy was such a shit head, more freaking rules! She looked around most of the class was surprised. Except Adara she had a big smile on her face. "These are the rules of desperation"

The class was silent holding on his every word, Kaida could tell Morino was more in his element. "First for the 10th question you must decide to take it or not."

One of the more desperate looking Gennin stood up, "Choose, what what does that mean?"

-- -- --

Adara looked disgusted at the kid's outburst, could he be playing into the proctors wants any more. "It means that you don't have to listen to the 10th question, and if you choose not to take the question, you fail the whole exam along with your two team mates."

Adara was just waiting for him to come up with another rule. She looked over at Hinabi, she took a sadistic satisfaction that Hinabi was showing signs of nervousness. "Oh and another rule," Adara smiled more; this was something seeing the best at work. It kind of made her sad that he wasn't having his whole effect cause of the whole fiasco in the beginning. But if he was hundred percent effective she would probably be sweating right now. "If you choose to take it, and answer incorrectly…" The room took a collective breath, "That person will lose the right to take the chunnin exams ever again."

Most of the room gasped, come one Adara thought, if he was going to give you a choice to make your team cop out he had to give you a good reason to. She looked over at Hinabi, who was looking at her. And her expression was readable, 'if you raise your hand I will give you hell' Lee was fine too, he was nervous like most of the crowd, but he gave her a week smile he wasn't copping out.

- - -

Keiji knew that Kaida deserved this chance to get to Chunnin. So he couldn't bail out on her, and Zaki would probably want the chance to fail so she never had to take it again, so bring on this dumb question. Adara was the only one in the room who maintained her composure, she was kind of taking a pleasure in how nervous other people where. "Those who aren't confident can choose to take it next year." Ibiki goaded. Keiji had to brace himself to the chair. He wasn't going to get Keiji like this. That man had yelled at Kaida and Zaki for things that were his fault! He wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of scarring him out of the test!

"On to the tenth question,"

----- - ----

Zaki didn't like this guy, she wasn't going to back down, and just because she knew it would make him mad if she passed. And then he couldn't do anything about that little note she left him on the paper, and even if he didn't read it, he was bound to know about it.

"Those who do not wish to take it raise your hand."

About 4 odd people raised their hands. All of them shaking, Zaki looked over to the boy Micah; his hand was starting to move. Wait he was part of Keiji's graduating class. Without even thinking, she clamped his hand on the table. His eyes looked at her, as if crying in outrage that she just did that. Zaki didn't back down keeping eye contact with the guy with coke rim glasses. He then pulled his hand away and looked away shoulders shagging and giving up to what Zaki wanted.

They waited 10 more minuets after a while a couple other people giving up. Leaving 90 people left in the room. That was 30 teams for the next test. "No point in dragging this on. Now to everyone remaining."

Zaki held her breath, this was nerve racking, and "I congratulate you on passing the first test."

-- -- --

Kaida was mad, that was the tenth question, and this guy was driving her insane! Really that was the tenth question, how lame! "Congratulations you just passed the 10th question" Ibiki was smiling now like a fool. Kaida saw through it, she wanted to smack him.

"So the first 9 questions aren't getting scored?" Keiji's voice rang out obvious relief in his voice.

"No they had a purpose to test your individual gathering information ability. So they had a purpose."

"But the first 9 questions aren't getting scored in the end right?" Keiji asked again.

"No."

Kaida didn't understand why Keiji was so happy about that, she had given him perfectly good answers if he got the code right!

"As a shinobi information is more important then life. And on missions and battle fields people risk their lives to get their hands on it," Morino said as he showing his horrible scarred head. Kaida felt her stomach churn, this man just made her uncomfortable he was weird and unpredictable and she didn't like him. He had the word creeper written all over him. She looked at his head again, why that looked so familure. Kaida widened her eyes from the connection just popped into her head and had to smack her head to stop from laughing so much.

-- -- -

Adara looked at his head in fascination, those scars were from professionals. He started covering his ugly head again. "If the enemy or 3rd party notices you…there is no guarantee the info will be accurate."

Ibiki now looked directly at Adara; he had seen her through out the exams not sweating she hadn't even looked worried. These words were directed at her, and they made her feel powerful, "I want you to remember this. Important information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades and for the village." Her mind flashed with the memory card in her shoe on the bottom of her bed; and then the Jounin who had been stalking her. He thought that Shikimaru had taken it for some reason. This what ever it was was powerful information they were willing to go to extreme lengths to get. But not yet desperate enough to kill, something was going to happen soon. She doubted this Ibiki knew anything about it, but it still reminded her of the importance of this information.

"We would like you to go wait in the courtyard for the second exam proctor."

The masses straggled out meeting up with the team mates.

The Konoha teams stayed behind the pack a little. Kaida looked up at Zaki, "Was it just me or did that guys head look like Mojojojo from the powder-puff girls?"

The whole of them started laughing, "Yeah it does Kaida." Zaki agreed smiling at her.

Adara tried not to laugh at this. Morino Ibiki was a man to look up to, not to make fun of. But now was not the time to mention that, she was too drained to. Keeping her composure was a lot harder then she had ever anticipated. Making sure nobody saw you sweat or worry was a whole knew thing. Even though she thought it was fascinating some people crack under pressure, she didn't like being under pressure at all. The three teams all broke off from each other to talk strategy with next test, she decided to walk over to Keiji's team.

"Why were you so worried about the first 9 questions?" Kaida asked Keiji.

"I don't think I got your code," He admitted guilty "I don't get what the Hokage Mountain was there for."

Kaida looked at him eyes going wide, "There was no Hokage Mountain, it was different symbols that you put on chocolate, you stair at it at the parlor long enough I thought you had memorized it!" The little girl whispered.

Keiji looked at Kaida, "We got to practice our communication skills."

Adara sensed ice queen looking at her, the master calls time to go back.

-- - - ---

Yamato wasn't drinking, the only person here who was drinking was Anko, and moderate for her was liver failure for regular people. Most of the Jounin even those who don't have a squad sat here and waited for Morino to come and asses the batch this year. He usually had very little to say.

Morino came in with a smashed nose. "What the hell happened to you!" Anko asked brashly.

His eyes got cold, "Skate board," Yamato eyes widened and he tried to sink into his chair, "Who is the Gennin squad leader of Rookie squad #9?" He asked teeth clenched. Yamato gulped and raised his head.

Morino looked like smoke was going to come off his ears, "Your team shows no respect." Yamato just wondered what Zaki did to piss Morino off. "First the Zaki girl tripped me on the way to the exam and only out of sheer luck did she get there on time. Plus she didn't get out of her Pj's yet she was wearing pink bunny slippers"

Yamato didn't want Ibiki to criticize his team, "At least she didn't forget." He defended.

"Then the little one starts complaining that her seat is too big," Morino went on.

"Hey she's only 8! She's going to be smaller then the average twenty year old of course the seats will be too big for her!" Yamato didn't want to make a scene but he all ready believed it was too late for that.

"Then the boy on your team stands up and tries to give her his seat without permission."

"Yes how dare he try to help his team mate?!" Yamato was standing up now yelling at Ibiki.

"Then while he gets up he trips on the other girls' skate board sending it through the air smacking it into my face! And breaking an exam table in the process."

"Well you are a Jounin you should know enough to know when too duck! And it's just a table god!"

"That's nothing compared to what was on there test!" Morino was as heated at Yamato. Yamato didn't have a comeback for that one either, so he just stared at the proctor. "This note left by the girl Zaki is cause enough to throw them out of the exam!"

"Let me see it" Anko interjected, Ibiki handed her a paper and she read through it and then she gave it to Yamato.

Dear shit face,

I didn't appreciate you yelling at my team mates like that, it was a real bitchy and whiney thing to do. You think your better then us? I could see it when you walked in the room you thought you were better then everyone else there, here's a little reality check monkey brains-you aren't. Cause if you did actually have IQ points you would have realized that I picked your pocket even before the test began. You are an arrogant little piss face that isn't really worth an ant's life. I hope day when you die and your soul is rotting in hell Satan ass rapes you with kitchen appliances.

Sincerely

Nariko Zakuro

Yamato pursed his lip together that was a little insulting, but only a little. Could he really kick his team out for that? He looked at Anko who had read it again and was holding back a smile.

"Don't worry about Hot head here Yamato, he can't do anything. He can't kick them out for this note or even the disturbance they caused before the class." Anko reassured him. She then turned back to Ibiki. "SO besides your ego getting bitched slapped by a bunch of gennin's what else happened during the test."

Morino narrowed his eyes at her, "The other 29 teams remaining are all ok, no team stuck out as exceptional. One person did stick out as exceptional though," Morino then turned to Neji.

Neji puffed up a bit, "I knew my cousin wasn't going to let me down."

Morino shook his head, "She was a nervous wreck during the entire thing and I saw her using her Byakugan 2 times. It was your other student Nara Adara; she has been the first in a long time not to show any emotional trauma during my interrogation methods. The last one who did that was the Kazekage and he was already too screwed up a kid to show any emotions at all. I'll see how she progresses but I might want to take her on as my apprentice." Ibiki warned Neji.

Neji's eyes were lost in thought. It was very very odd for Ibiki to look at any Gennin as a potential interrogation team candidate. He usually picked out of the best of the Anbu, even Kakashi didn't get through Ibiki's scrutiny. Adara must have impressed the hell out of Ibiki. Yamato would have to tell her later, cause he knew that Neji probably wouldn't pass on that piece of information not wanting to boost her ego too much. But Yamato believed compliments were good teaching methods.

Anko started chuckling, "I wonder how we will fare in the second exam," She mused. Right just because they passed the first test doesn't mean they are home free. They still had the forest of death to work through.

**Oh my writing this chapter was really really hard! Oh well I hope you enjoy it, it wasn't really my forte. **

**This chapter reminds me of the first concept of this story, Zaki was going to be Kakashi's bastard child and Gai was going to be her uncle that she lived with after her mother died of cancer. Max was supposed to be a guy her age that ran off from an abusive parent to live with her when they were younger and decided to follow her to Konoha. He was also supposed to look a lot like Sai! **

**Yamato was still going to be their sensei, but her team mates were going to be Parker and Micah instead of Kaida and Keiji, they were originally side character's that showed up only during the first exam. **

**The first plot was supposed to be about stopping all the Akatsuki! **

**Adara was never supposed to be part of this fic, and the main people who were going to be shown in the manga would have been Gai, Lee and Tenten I amaze myself on how much it has changed, frankly I like these characters and plots better they are a lot a lot more interesting and complex then my first story. **

**SORRY JUST getting a little nostalgic, like always RnR**


	27. The second chunin Exam

The 90 Kids waited out in the courtyard, most talking in hushed voices. What was the 2nd exam going to be like? The three rookie teams from Konoha sat a little to the side in a medium sized circle. "What do you think will be next?" Kristi asked jittery as usual. A cold gentle wind had started coming down from the north. The blonds bright pink tank top couldn't keep out the cold she leaned towards Parker for warmth, Not noticing or not caring about her other team mate who's face was cross with jealousy.

Parker didn't notice either of them; his eyes were casting around at the girls around him. His Electric blues landed on Adara's dark hair. She had it ties up in a low bun letting some of the bangs caress her face in the wind. She was smiling at the purple haired oaf who had apparently just said something funny. Her dark eyes looked like chocolate pies just waiting to be devoured. Parker smiled slyly more to himself then anyone else as his gaze traveled farther left towards the ice queen and her court.

Hinabi was sitting as regal as ever her hawk like features resembling more of a stone carving then human. Her moon orbs were resting on her male team mate with indifference. The average male with plain hair and plain green eyes, was muttering an apology. Looking more like a subject then a team mate. The Hyuuga looked down her nose at him raising her hand to stop the mindless rambling. Lee bowed his head and turned away.

Parkers' eyes then drifted to the grey haired girl. It started to drizzle lightly; her t-shirt started clinging to her awkward teenage curves. The silk boxers she was wearing were doing little to hide the fact that she had no underwear on. Her milky white legs looked strong and healthy even under the cuts and bruises he told himself must have come from training. The bunnies on her feet's ears were now drooping horribly; the rain was coming down harder. As his eyes stayed on the girls thighs they were drawn away by ruddy red hair.

Kaida looked like a typical 8 year old, could have even passed as 6. Her orange overalls and stripped shirt enhanced the little girl inside her. The little girls' body shook with cold as the rain poured down harder, ruining her pig tails. Her deep blue eyes, and sky slope nose lined with freckles would look normal on any one else her age. And it was obvious to anyone that was the look she was going for, little innocent girl. But no matter how hard she tries she would never be able to hide that sharp steel like intelligence in her eyes. His arm was brushed by a warm body.

It was his busty blond team mate, her pink tank top was now soaked showing her undershirt underneath. Electric blue eyes met denim jean color and they both smiled, and then scooted closer.

-- - -- -- -

Keiji smiled at Adara; he loved the way her hair looked in the rain, how it stuck to her face. "I'm so nervous I don't think I can handle another exam like our last one," She admitted as she took her hair out of that low bun. The wet strands stuck to her neck and as she smiled made her eyes look like to heavenly orbs to get lost in. She ran a nervous hand through it, trying to get out a couple of snarls. Keiji's brain started to wonder what it would be like to have his hands in her hair; but quickly dismissed that. That would never happen. "If Anko has a team this year, does that mean she is no longer the 2nd exam proctor?" Keiji asked Adara.

"Subaku no Temari is the proctor this year, I heard her talking to my brother. Apparently everyone's making a big fuss cause the Kazekage wants to come to this chunnin exam and he was scheduled to come to the next." Adara explained pulling her hair back to put it back in a bun.

Zaki suddenly turned around her Hazel eyes blinking, "Gaara's coming?" She asked in a voice Keiji had never heard from her before. IT was a gentle almost whimsical whisper.

Adara shrugged "I think that's the name of the Kazekage."

The grey haired girl seemed to realize what she just sounded like and an unfamiliar blush crossed her features. "Oh cool" She dismissed as she turned away.

-- --- -----

Kaida wondered for the briefest moment about Zaki's reaction to the news about that Kazekage, but quickly dismissed it, there was better things to worry about. Like the task at hand.

Suddenly out of no where a violent wind crossed the courtyard. Kaida's reaction was to automatically ground herself with sending chakra to her feet. Zaki also reacted quickly, Flying up in the air and setting of her chakra through her pores dodging the attack. After she landed she had enough footing to make a small shield around there group. With her natural Kekkei Genkai, she didn't have to use up as much chakra as other making the shield. IT let her move the others persons wind chakra instead of making a chakra shield herself. Letting her manipulate the wind chakra all ready in the air instead of using any of her own.

Kaida looked around people who hadn't been prepared were flying backward and scrambling to keep there balance Most were in a crouching position behind a very big objects weapons out. The 8 behind Zaki were ready; Adara didn't have her weapons out yet. She frowned, "This is an attack from the 2nd exam proctor, when the wind releases don't automatically attack her wait until she says something." She told the eight, they all nodded.

A beautiful Laugh rang out through the courtyard when the wind stopped, "Oh its so much fun playing with you." It sang. Out snapped a beautiful blond woman strutted out into the court yard, One Gennin through a kunai at her; she didn't even look at it as she flicked it out of the way. "Hello Gennin I'm the second exam proctor." The Gennin looked up.

"Is that the exam?" Kaida asked the others they shrugged.

"Unfortunately that little wind was just me having fun with you; the real exam has yet to come up." Temari explained. "Follow me if you would like to continue the exam,"

After a while they reached a huge forest that was blocked off with electrical wire, Kaida gulped something wasn't right. She hugged Yo closer to herself something was going to happen very soon. "We will line you up in a random line!" The woman barked. After a while when every one was arranged the girl continued. "Your team will enter the forest of death; you have 3 days to reach the tower at the very center of the forest." Temari took a breath, "But that's not all you will be given one scroll either an earth scroll or a heaven scroll. Before you can enter the tower you must have both an earth and heaven scroll. You can not open the scrolls before heading into the tower."

Keiji thought about Parkers team, Anko was there sensei they probably already had a lot of experience in these woods. "You may get a scroll in order and then enter the forest. Keiji's team was in the middle number 15th from the door, Adara was #7 and Parker #27. Kaida was trying her little girl impersonation again, "I hope there are no bugs in the woods they are really really scary!" The rain had started again turning the ground into mud.

The ground wasn't too muddy but it was slowly getting worse and worse, Zaki was on her skateboard, more of a nervous habit then for transportation. Keiji looked behind them; a team from Suna was there. The one directly behind him was a girl with chin length violet hair. Her face was angular along with her body. She was up to Keiji's nose which was tall for a girl. Her body was boyish and not very well developed. Her nylon shirt wasn't revealing anything in the rain. It matched the color of her hair her eyes were green. Her arms were folded trying not to listen to her two male team mates.

The one in the middle had jet black hair, a fro hawk that was starting to sag to one side in the rain, his pants were too tight for him and his shirt probably from the girl section of the department store, at his sides were two whips and a ninja pack. His team mate had odd purple make up on his face and was wearing a huge sweat shirt with baggy pants. They were both leaning toward each other whispering something. Keiji concentrated his hearing towards there chat, they seemed to be examining something.

"I think we have the best view in the house" The black haired one said, the other grunted in response. "Looks good enough to eat." He kept on saying; it took a while for Keiji to realize that they were talking about Zaki.

Her boxers and shirt were now soaking through clinging unceremoniously to her every body part. She bent down to tie her shoe. Both the guys suppressed a moan. "Talk to her," The baggy clothed guy nudged the other one. Zaki stood up and stretched a bit.

"So doll face, you like riding big long planks of wood?" The guy said. Keiji met the eyes of his female team mate, she just shrugged. Zaki ignored the bastard.

-- ------ - -

Kaida examined the proctors handing out the scrolls, in random orders he would pick from his left hand or right hand. He looked incredibly bored. That boy from behind them was still bothering Zaki he had been doing it for the past 5 minuets and she hadn't even looked at him. He was becoming more frustrated with each passing moments.

"It's not nice to ignore people toots," The boy said voice getting graver and graver. They were about 5 from the front of the line. Zaki finally looked at the boys behind her; she rolled her eyes at them. Kaida could sense Keiji getting more frustrated with each passing remark. She stepped closer to him and put her small hands on his arm. His gold eyes were blazing she just told him to chill with her eyes. Finally seeming to have it with her attitude the guy with the tight pants, grabbed her by the shoulder and wheeled her around to face him, "What is it honey, think your too good for a little chat?" He sneered. Keiji was about to through a punch she could sense it; Kaida grabbed his arm and shook her head at him, sensing the frustration through out his body. Those sand kids were just trying to get them riled up. Zaki could handle that skeeze bag.

Zaki's face took on a superiority that Hinabi would be proud of. "Sorry I thought you were talking to my team mate Keiji, you seem like that type of guy. So could you please get you hand off me please." Her voice made the atmosphere around them seem a couple degree's cooler.

A proctor's voice rang out "Hey you guys, no fighting until told too!" The guy reluctantly let go of Zaki.

"Sorry sir I just wanted to tell this girl it was unwise not to have underwear on, especially on assignments." His voice rang out.

That was it Keiji lunged at the guy, but stopped right before his attack, Zaki's hand raised to stop him. Her exterior was cool and her eyes were full of disgust and hate. "Don't bother with trash, Keiji" She said. She then turned around and got on her skate board one more time, the line moved up they were only two from getting their scroll and leaving. A dark silence descended upon them as the rain was letting up a little. The ground was still mucky around them. That didn't stop Zaki from trudging on, on her skate board. They were only one away from the door. The boy had kept his eyes on Zaki, and then out of no where he kicked the skate board out from under her.

The Catastrophe that followed was criminal and comical all at the same time. Zaki was thrown off balance by the sudden shock; she fell on the guy in front of her who was grabbing at the scroll. This of course led to a domino effect, he fell on to the proctor and then the proctor fell a lot like Keiji onto the table full of scrolls. The scrolls then rolled away like marbles the mud seeming to help their movements instead of hurting them.

"What the HELL!" Keiji heard Temari's voice coming closer to them. "Nobody move a fucking inch!" She yelled as she got to the front entrance of the forest.

She saw the scene, "YOU three, get up!" She snarled, she then shot her head towards the other proctors. "You guys pick this mess up quickly! Who started this?" She asked her voice full of the fire of fury.

A silky musical voice floated up from behind them, "Oh it was nobodies fault, Miss Proctor." It was the girl from the sand team, she had walked up closer to the catastrophe, and she seemed a lot smoother walking up there. She was in control of this scene you could tell. She then bent down a picked up Zaki's skate board. "It was this _thing_" Her voice spoke of the skate board like a disease. She showed Temari it then walked towards Zaki.

Zaki's hair was even in more of a mess and a whole half of her face and body was caked with mud. "It seems to be the cause of a couple problems today." The sand koniochi's voice still had that light musical tone to it. She had each side of the skate board in her hand. Her green eyes looked at Zaki's Hazel eyes both of them were issuing the other silent challenges. "Maybe we should get rid of it." The girl suggested her tone no longer musical but icy.

"Give it back." Zaki whispered her voice filled with fire and her face giving into an unusual flush.

The girl raised a delicate eye brow, and with little to no strength snapped Zaki's skateboard right in front of her face. There was now two sections of the board both vertical. "Here have it." The sand Koniochi then gave the pieces back. Zaki's face was in shock.

Her face was unnaturally white as she looked at the skate board. Her hands shook with either trying to keep back tears or pure anger. Kaida didn't know what to do she had never seen Zaki so angry before, it scared her. The proctor handed her a heaven scroll.

"It's your turn to get into the woods." He told her, "Take your team mate and get as far away as possible." Kaida nodded and turned toward Zaki. She was still in the same place shaking violently.

"Zaki, its time to go," Kaida tried to make her voice gentle; she didn't know how to handle this. Zaki didn't get upset like this, not ever she never shook like she was doing now. She turned around sharply her face red with anger and tears, in one of her hands the two pieces of her skate board.

She rushed to get to the entrance by Keiji and Kaida, not bothering trying to hold back the tears in her eyes as she bumped into the examiner. "So-so-sorry" she stammered as she ran off, Keiji and Kaida following her.

Zaki continued to go north and then went towards the west suddenly Keiji and Kaida followed. They stopped in a clearing that looked mildly safe. They all scouted out and laid traps around the spot to signal if anyone was coming.

"Are you all right Zaki?" Keiji asked her voice filled with general worry.

Zaki's voice was a little shaky as she smiled at them "oh I'm fine it was just an act, I got-got an earth scroll from the examiner!" She gave a little laugh. The attempt to hide her problem was so feeble both Keiji and Kaida figured that the scroll was either an accidental thing she lifted off him or was a spur of a moment decision. Zaki was fazed by her skate board's death, but she tried not to let it show. She gave Kaida the earth scroll.

Kaida put down Yo on the ground and took out a kunai, using it as a knife she cut the seems of his back. At first all you could see was fluff, but she quickly pulled out exploding tags and kunia's along with smoke bombs, she stuffed those in another ninja pack she put on her leg, she then put the two scrolls in Yo. She pulled out a needle and thread and slowly sewed the gap back together, with no false stitch.

"That's a clever idea Kaida when did you come up with it?" Keiji asked her trying to regain a friendlier atmosphere. She shot him a dirty look.

"Un like you two I've been preparing for this." She spat finishing off the sewing. She then took one stick she had gathered and stuck two exploding tags on it. She quickly did hand signs and used a transformation jutsu on the stick, "If any body does manage to get this scroll once my chakra is too far away to sense the tags on the stick will explode." She explained. "You see I want to be a chunnin." She explained.

"Why put two tags on it?" Zaki asked finally getting out of her stooper.

"Well if any team does manage to get this scroll from us I want to make dam sure we don't have to face them again during the third exam, this explosion will be big enough to clear a section in the forest."

Zaki nodded her head, she then sat down to face Kaida, "Got a plan?" Keiji would have joined in but a bird distracted him. It had been there since they got there but its eyes were too black to be real. He stepped closer to it, something was wrong with that bird. Keiji stepped closer, suddenly out of no where he saw a string, it was a camera! Keiji pulled out a kunai and cut the power cord as fast as possible. "That was a camera guys! Let's get out of here!" He said the other two got up as fast as possible and started running north.

After a while they slowed down a bit, "Why you think a camera was there?" Kaida asked.

"It had a cord to it; I doubt that a team could install a camera that intricate in the hour and a half we've been doing this exam." Keiji reasoned, "So it was probably just a camera put in there to watch us in the second exam. But still its better safe then sorry." He explained to them. "Are we going directly to the tower or waiting for a while."

"Were going to lurk outside the tower for a couple of hours before hand so it doesn't look too suspicious. We do want to get inside before sundown though, I don't want to be caught up in what ever nastiest live regularly in this forest." Kaida told him.

------ --- - ---

It was now 5'oclock in the afternoon. Nothing especially amazing had happened to them, Kaida was disappointed. And they couldn't have fun with themselves either, Zaki was still depressed about her skate board, really what was so god dam important about that thing? She was still carrying around those pieces of her board. They were sitting down by a tree stump all of them exhausted from pretending to run. "Are we like scary or something? Why the hell is nobody trying to attack us?" Keiji asked.

"You're complaining, the less we have to do the better, keep our ace in the hole for later."

Suddenly out of nowhere a kunai comes flying out of the tree. "Thanks for the jinx Keiji!" Zaki yelled. Three shinobi came out of the tree's leaping they were all from the grass village. The middle one was the first to attack Keiji, who had the fake scroll on him. Keiji dodged and pulled out his own kunai.

The guy went for him again throwing a punch at his face, Keiji easily grabbed his hand but was pushed back again by the force. Keiji took the mans fist in his hand and crushed it. The man gritted his teeth from crying out loud. Keiji pushed him back into a tree.

Kaida was dodging her opponent's blows, she could tell he was not used to attacking girls her age and he was holding back his blows. Not a wise move, but who could blame him she looked adorable. She smiled at him, "I'm sorry mister we have to fight, but we both need the others scroll." She said in her kid like voice. The man faltered a bit and Kaida took her opening, Jamingjamming him in the tendon with her kunai, he cried out in pain.

His cry was not the only one to heard, Zaki had just got herself slammed into the tree. These opponents weren't using any Ninjutsu's she was doomed, so far it's been a whole Tai Jutsu battle. She was descent but the opponent was overpowering her with attacks. Keiji needed to help her out she all ready had a kunai in her arms. Keiji could probably handle two guys.

He backed up so he was nearer Zaki. "Switch places with me when I say switch he whispered she nodded. Right now she was in a stale mate with the other guy both putting force into their kunia's. Zaki was now leaning back the man was overpowering her, Keiji's guy just threw another punch and the only thing behind them was a huge tree. "Now!" He shouted, Zaki then released the pressure stepping to the side and aiming the guy right at Keiji who also stepped to the side as the guy he was fighting, they both turned into mud. Zaki turned around and threw a kunai at the darkness; they heard a tink of mettle on mettle. There was somebody there all right; Kaida had taken care of her clone.

Suddenly a fire ball came whizzing towards Kaida, Zaki jumped in and redirected it towards the leaves making them catch fire lighting up the darkness ahead of them. The three shinobi were caught by surprise that she would try to destroy the forest. The almost fallen leaves were easily started on fire even with the rain to come and soak them, Smoke started rising upwards leaving behind its horrible smell. The tree's started to catch on fire. The trees were old and dense but it seemed extremely flammable. The three opponents split up all going in different directions. Kaida, Keiji and Zaki formed a protective circle. The forest around them was catching fire quickly, Keiji had just gotten singed by an ember, more and more were falling.

"We should get out of here!" Zaki coughed the smoke was getting to them and the intense heat was making them sweat.

"Which way?" Keiji asked scanning the flames for their opponents.

"East!" Kaida commanded. They sprang forward trying to get out of the burning clearing. Out of nowhere a kunai came whizzing at Zaki, Kaida jumped in front of it, the kunai sliced her side and she fell over into a burning bush. Keiji hauled her out of it before her whole body could catch fire, but the hem of her overalls did. Keiji quickly slapped them out.

A dozen more kunia's came at them in different directions, Keiji was attending to Kaida who couldn't stand because of the burns she just got. Zaki took some of the existing flame and made a circular shield around them that was hot enough to burn mettle.

Unfortunately that means they were stuck inside it. Keiji was dizzy from the heat surrounding them; he could barely dress the wound of Kaida properly. "This….won't work!" He panted the oxygen was wearing out.

"I figured." Zaki coughed. "grab Kaida and move as fast as physically possible. 1…2…3..4 GO!" She said Keiji sprang toward the east and the tower. The Grass nin quickly on there tail Kaida was still breathing but it was getting slower he could feel it on his back.

"Keiji," She coughed it was barely audible over the burning forest around them. "Give them your scroll I don't think…can't waste chakra maintaining jutsu." She then gave a horrible cough and that meant that the stick he was carrying would explode soon. Keiji skidded on the ground and turned around to face them, He threw the fake scroll at the grass nin. "HERE take it," He shouted.

"NO KEIJI!" Zaki yelled at him in dismay.

Keiji turned around and yelled at Zaki, "we need to get our team mate medical help for Christ sake!" He yelled and started running toward the tower as fast as possible Zaki quickly on his heels.

In less then a 3 minuets they were at the doors and were in side. As they shut the doors to the tower they heard a horrible explosion the building was shaking too, but they both ignored it. Keiji quickly let down Kaida and laid her on the floor, she wasn't breathing. "Do you know CPR?"

Keiji frowned, "Not very well." He told her "You do it!"

"I don't know how I skipped that day!" Zaki said in panic. Keiji gave a growl of frustration and opened her mouth and squeezed her nose. "Its 8 for kid's right?" He asked pushing on Kaida's diaphragm trying to get her too breath. ".." Keiji leaned down again a doomed silence fell upon them. ".5.6.7..." Keiji was crying, Kaida was too young to die, she was she couldn't have, a small coughing sound came from the eight year old. Both her team mates breathed a sigh of relief.

Keiji helped her sit up, "So did the exploding tags work?" She asked right away. Both of her team mates looked quizzical.

"well, lets find out" Zaki said stepping towards the door and opening it, the tree's that used to be there were now smoky stumps. The entrance of the forest was now in clear view from the entrance of the tower. Keiji only had one thought in his mind, 'Was Adara ok?'

"We should go out and look for the others and see if they are ok!" Keiji said almost charging, out of the tower. Zaki stopped him her face was grave.

"We need provisions first, we don't have anything to help people with." She told him. "Plus Kaida is still hurt, its time to look after our own."

"OUR OWN! What about Adara? Or Lee or Kristi, Parker Micah! They are all from Konoha we need to see if they are ok!"

"Kaida can't do anything right now she can barely stand let alone go out looking for people!" Zaki argued, Kaida was leaning down by the wall in holding her head in her hands.

"We can't just leave those people out there, what if the chunnin can't find them all?" Keiji asked. Adara, what if Adara was hurt, What if something happened to her?

"Adara's a capable Koniochi Keiji she can handle herself." Zaki said as though reading his mind.

Keiji flushed, he was not going to stand here and do nothing. "I'm going whether you two go or not." He threatened.

"Wait 30 minuets Keiji" Kaida ordered she was now standing and leaning on the wall. "I need time to rest and Zaki and you can go explore the tower to see if there is any medical supplies we could bring" Kaida offered she shrunk back down towards the floor, and closed her eyes falling asleep chest rising and falling peacefully.

-- - --

Adara was rushing towards the explosion, her team had seen it from the other side of the forest, but decided to go towards it because discarded scrolls could be lying about. Adara just wanted to see if Keiji was ok, she didn't really care about getting a stupid scroll any more. What if Keiji had been in that explosion, what if…something bad happened to him. Adara shook herself she couldn't just do nothing.

When they got to the sight of black wood stumps and no more vegetation they stopped. Lee had out his medical kit, it was sad he wanted to be a med nin really bad, but he had to be the head of his clan instead. A cough erupted from the left. A grass nin laid there bleeding from his intestines.

Lee automatically set to work stitching him up. "Hey there what your name?" he asked cause he needed to keep the guy talking and breathing.

"Kira." Was the week response, he sounded like he was in pain.

"Can you fix him?" Adara asked.

"His intestines are like confetti, I can help him along, you would need an actual medic to heal him." Lee said concentrating on the boy below him.

"I'll go get a medic chunnin; you go find his team mates." Hinabi ordered. "Lee you stay here and do what you can."

Adara nodded, she kneeled over Kira, "Kira what are your team mate's names?" She asked.

Kira gave a painful groan, "Danny and Mark they are twins." Adara nodded and started forward.

She didn't know where to start searching. She heard mettle being drawn behind her she turned around and flew a kunai behind her. A boy with his arm in a really bad sling and could barely stand up stood against her. "Go away, neither my brother or I have a scroll."

"Danny?" She asked, He blinked once.

"No Mark, how do you know Danny?" He accused flashing his Kunai again.

"Its ok, my team mates and I found your other team mate Kira; we wanted to find you too." She dropped her kunai to show she meant no harm.

"I..I don't believe you, the blast, Kira he couldn't have, he couldn't have survived he was holding the dam thing when it exploded."

"He's not in very good condition, but Lee's trying to help." She explained. Mark doubled over in pain, something was wrong with him too. Adara went over to his body, he was trying to not to cry out loud. "Believe me, I'm here to help." She said in a soothing tone. Mark relaxed a bit. "Now where's Danny?" She asked.

"Help me up and I'll show you." He grimaced. Adara hauled his arm over her shoulder. They hobbled toward where his twin was sitting nursing his own wound.

"I'll show you guys Kira." She told them. They all walked toward Lee who was still talking and trying to fix the broken boy. Kira gave a small smile when he saw his team mates. "Hey guys." He wheezed.

"Hey Kir," Danny said sitting down and holding Kira's hand. "You going to be all right man, I know you are."

Kira gave a small smile, he was dozing off. "Make sure he doesn't fall asleep!" Lee warned his forehead sweating with perspiration from trying to fix him. "WHERE"S HINABI WHEN YOU NEED HER!?" he asked in frustration. "I'm not going to be able to keep this up." Danny squeezed Kira's hand tighter.

"Come on Kira; remember when that dog peed on Mark?" Danny's twin gave a barking laugh, so did the dying boy.

"Yeah," He wheezed. "It was so funny sensei…" his breath was dying and his eyes were drooping.

"Get out of the way boy!" A demanding voice said to lee. Lee turned around there was Hinabi with a women by the name of shizuni pulled up her sleeves. Lee scooted away to allow her better access.

"What where you doing?" She asked lee eyeing up his handy work.

"well…" Lee started in a detailed explanation of what happened to Kira, Shizune nodded when ever he talked. Danny was still holding Kira's hand.

Mark tapped Adara on the shoulder, "Thanks." He said to her.

Adara smiled "no problem."

"You could have just taken our scroll of kira and let him die." Mark reasoned. Adara shook her head.

"No I couldn't, as shinobi I like to think we try to prevent useless death, not cause it. I know that's not always the case but that's how I like to view things." Mark nodded his head in understanding. He then went over and took something off of Kira, he handed Adara an earth scroll, the scroll that they needed.

"Here take this. We are not going to be using it." He told her, Adara nodded her head. "Now if you guys don't become Chunnin's I'll be disappointed." Mark smiled at Adara, Adara smiled back both of them were just too plain exhausted to say anything else. Adara sat down and waited for the surgery to be done.

---- -------

Keiji, Zaki and Kaida were all ready to leave the tower, but before they could head out a Kiba appeared. "Sorry kids once your in the tower you have to stay here, it's a rule."

"WHY WEREN"T WE TOLD THIS!" Keiji demanded.

The chunnin scratched his back, "because this is the first time a group actually wanted to leave the tower, we just enacted it."

"That's a bunch of crap!" Zaki yelled.

"You can leave and be disqualified." He warned, he looked at the determination in their eyes. "They have just sent a bunch of chunnin to the spot to help with the wounded; they wouldn't need your help anyway." Kiba tried to keep them from going; he didn't want poor Kaida to go through any more. She looked like she could barely stand. "Plus look at your team mate there, she needs rest." Both the older kids' shoulders sagged in semi guiltiness. "Just stay." Kiba said.

"Is this another trick?" Kaida asked her voice was filled with weariness. Her eyes were looking at Kiba a little sad; like she couldn't believe he would try to stop her. IT made his heart give a lurch.

"No, no trick. 100% truth." Kiba assured. Kaida kept her eyes on Kiba they seemed to burn into his soul.

"I believe him." She finally said, the other two looked at her. Keiji still seemed uneasy.

"SO we will stay?" Zaki asked, Kaida nodded, Keiji growled.

**OK so I know it was a long chapter, I really liked this one. I know this arc is going fast but really its just to introduce more charectors! Please tell me what you think about it in more then just three words! LOL**

**RnR please**


	28. Wait

.The three fell back into the tower, waiting, and waiting jitters passing every now and then. Kaida leaned against the wall and looked tired; Kiba with akamaru trudged up to her and sat back down. She looked away and didn't talk to him, Kiba's heart went out to the girl who looked too tired and worn and intelligent to only be eight. "You're mad at me aren't you?" He said as his dog leaned down and gave Kaida a lick. She didn't laugh like she usually did.

"You were just doing your job," She replied icily. Kiba felt like he had just been slapped. The doors then opened up to three swaggering people inside. They all walked with an air of confidence that made you sick, look the sand shinobi were here. Kiba looked over at the grey haired girl 'Zaki' He had heard about that little scrap she had with the sand girl.

Zaki stiffened a little and excused herself from her male team mate's company. She then walked up to Kaida and Kiba, "Where are the bathrooms?"

"Down the hall over their too the right." Kiba said pointing in the general direction.

"Thanks," The girl said as she turned around crisply in that direction, not looking at the sand shinobi who were at the other side of the hall laying down their things down and looking like they owned the place.

Zaki walked quicker then normal people would, but she had to go to the bathroom. Well that was what Keiji told himself, he didn't want to think she was still upset over that skateboard. Where was Adara? That was the only thing he could think about clearly right now, Adara was out there and may be in trouble. He should be out there searching for her. He was such a horrible friend; he was here in safety not out there searching for Adara, Adara, Adara….

----- --

_Zaki trudged along hand and hand with her father; He smiled a sad smile at her and walked closer. Slowly and slowly the houses became nicer the streets became cleaner and the street started to have an optimistic air to them that the little girl was not used to. She stepped closer to her father. A mother planted a garden letting her toddlers play in the dirt; elderly people were walking home with arms full of shopping bags. The street no longer smelled of alcohol and piss. It was all strange and wonderful in a way. The young 6 year old Zaki wanted to know something "Daddy Are we in a different city? Is this Suna?" The small girl asked eyes wide. _

_Her father gave a harsh laugh, "No honey we are just in a different section of Konoha,"_

"_Why are the houses, so different?" _

"_Well the people living in them can afford nice houses like that."_

_The little girl crossed her arms, eyeing the people around her suspiciously, "They seem fake." She told her father. _

"_I'm sure there real enough for them," her father sighed. _

_The two kept on walking this nice street turning only once onto a different street coming up to a big building with a wire fence around it. Inside was a nice big jungle gym with kids of all ages playing on it. "Look here Zaki, You'll be going here in a month or two." Her father said gesturing towards the building. _

"_What is it?" She asked backing behind her fathers legs. _

"_It's the academy, here is the opening to a new life for you, and it teaches you to become a shinobi."_

"_Like those uchiha's who used to hang around?" Zaki asked gripping onto her father tightly, she hadn't seen any of them around the dregs as of late, but they still frightened her. "What ever happened to them anyway?"_

_Her father gave an uncomfortable cough, "You don't have to be a shinobi, if you don't want too, other schools and apprentices will accept your education if you come here too." Her father told her voice filling with pride. _

"_Did you go there daddy?"_

_Her father lagged slightly, "No honey, but I knew a boy who worked his way through the academy, he's now a successful ninja, a Jounin I heard, might even be Anbu." His eyes were on the horizon and he was no longer paying attention to his daughter. The little girl's attention span was short and she soon wandered away. _

_At a ramp and stairs two older boys about twice the age of Zaki were fooling around on something. As the little one stepped closer she saw they were playing on skate boards. She had always been fascinated by those toys, but she had never had enough money for one. She stepped closer "Can I try?" She asked the older boys, not caring that she didn't know who they were. They both stopped and stared at her, one with faint amusement and the other with a sneer. "No; I don't want it to get stolen by dregs trash," The snarl one said. _

_Zaki's hands clenched into fist and she flushed, "I'm not trash!" She mumbled, "I just want to try to skate board." _

"_Year right" The mean one said, "come on Indri, Lets go somewhere else." The mean one then jumped on his skate board and skated off. The other stayed and looked at her for a moment. Zaki was frowning and had her brows furrowed in confusion. _

_The other boy opened his mouth to say something, "COME ON INDRI!" the other one yelled. Indri shook himself out of his stupor and pushed Zaki onto the ground._

"_He's right you are trash," Zaki landed on her butt still confused about what the older boys were calling her. He started skidding away kicking dirt in her eyes. The little girl started sniffling; almost as if his daddy's senses were tingling Zak appeared. _

_His voice sounded relieved as he scooped up Zaki in his strong arms. "there you are squirt, I thought I'd lost you." She buried her head in the nape of his neck, "Hey Kiddo why are you crying." _

_Zaki hugged her father harder, "They called me trash," She mumbled into his neck. Zak pulled away so his eyes were looking at her._

"_Who called you trash?" His voice was harsh as he asked. Zaki looked away from his glaring eyes. _

_Her voice was high and she was breathing heavy trying to calmly explain herself "these two older boys; all I wanted was to try to skateboard, and, and, and they pushed me in the dirt and and where mean and I, I don't understand." She said finally breaking into a real cry and burying her head again in her father's protective shoulder. After a good cry on his shoulder, the little girl fell asleep. _

_Zaki woke up on the couch of her house with a blanket over her, it was 9:30 at night, she ran into the kitchen. Her mother was out for her job, Zaki didn't know what it was. But Daddy told her that mommy needed only to go to her job once a month usually only for a day, but lately her mothers work had gotten more strenuous and she had been gone for a whole week. Zaki was starting to worry, maybe mommy was mad at daddy, they had been yelling at each other before her mother left for her job. Something about her mothers habits. Her father worked a night shift at the kunai factory, he had left all ready. _

_On the table was an odd shape package with a bow on it, Zaki's eyes widened, her birthday was tomorrow, but this could be an early present. She tore into the package, like the six year old she was, she gasped, and it was a skate board. A brand new skate board, just what she had wanted. Zaki then saw a note on the table. _

_My lovely dear Zaki _

_Happy early birthday, tomorrow you will get a huge present, Don't mind if other people call you names like trash just know that I love you, please no matter what happens and how you feel, I will always love you no matter. _

_Daddy _

_Zaki smiled, _

-- - - - --

The next day, she woke up to find her father dead; they used his insurance money to pay for her academy days. Zaki opened her eyes; she was in a bathroom stall sitting on the toilet to calm down. It wasn't working she was still shaking violently, that skate board had meant so much to her. The last gift of her fathers, the one she used.

Maybe she should have shown up at the academy more often; that's what her father had wanted, but she didn't care how better a person she would be with that training. It wasn't worth his life, she wanted him back, she wanted her dad back, she wanted her skate board back, she wanted her old life back, she wanted she wanted… Zaki was trying not to cry.

---- -----

Adara, was she dead? Was she ok? Was she bleeding? Is her team mate's ok? Did they draw out of the exam? Where were they? They had 2 more days but still, it would be dangerous in those woods at night. "Hey there," Keiji turned around to face the sand Koniochi.

Her eyes were pretty and grey, she had a sweet smile on her face, and she was leaning towards the pole that Keiji was standing by. "uh hey," this seemed like a totally different person then the cool and ice girl that broke Zaki's skate board.

"What's ya doin?" She asked in a board tone.

"Standing here." Keiji replied, what was her motive of talking to him. The girl rolled her eyes at him.

"Well I can see that," She said her tone light and full of humor. She stood up straight; the girl was tall "Sorry I should introduce myself, my names Bes Isis," She held out her hand and Keiji shook it, her hand shake was firm her hand was soft. They let go and the pretty girl then turned towards her two team mates "the one in the sweat shirt is Sacmis Thoth and the one with the girl pants on is Nefertiti Aepep."

"I'm Keitaru Keiji." Keiji said more out of politeness then actually wanting to talk to this girl. Her head perked up a bit.

"Keitaru? Are you related to Mayuri? The big hero of the great war." Keiji tried not to role his eyes.

"Yes he is my grandfather."

"Do you know him?" She asked her eyes were a light, with curiosity. Keiji didn't want to talk about this.

"Umm, excuse me I need to go pinch the loaf," Keiji felt bad for putting it so crudely, but how else would he get away from that girl, she had broke Zaki's skate board. He wondered where Adara was. Adara, Adara, Adara

--- - - - - --- - --

Adara was sitting around the camp fire. Lee had been so worn out after trying to help save Kira that Hinabi thought it best they make camp right away so he could sleep and rest up, not knowing if they were going to have time to rest in the tower. Hinabi seemed to have the notion that right when they got into the tower they would have to start fighting others so they needed to be at their peek strength. Adara lounged about; apparently a lot of Gennin had been hurt and dropped out of the second exam because of the huge explosion.

Hearing this news, Lee had frowned, he really hated when people got hurt for no reason. Hinabi had just said that it was better for them in the long run, and even though it pained her to actually side with the ice queen. She wondered if Keiji got hurt in the explosion, he was probably still in that vicinity, they were behind them in line. Keiji, what if he was hurt real bad, she had never told him how she felt. She hated this dam test all ready, it was stinky in these woods; she wanted to take a shower and go to bed.

Adara needed to know if Keiji was ok, so what if he was hurt badly like Kira. Urgh she hated being this obsessive about him, but she cared with more heart then she wanted to admit. Hinabi came back with more fire wood, she seemed cool and collected. She sat down after she put some wood in the fire.

"What are you thinking about?" Hinabi asked wanting to make conversation.

Adara tried not to blush, "Just about the others you know? A lot of people had to drop out, and I just, I don't want any of us to fail."

Hinabi stared at her for a while eyes like steel moons bearing down on her. A grunt came from the tent and Hinabi jumped up like a lithe cat and went straight to the source of the noise. Adara followed slowly behind.

Lee was lying down on a bedroll eyes closed, sweat dripping off from his for head. He looked like crap. Hinabi bent down and poured some of her water onto his lips. "Lee, you need rests," She said voice hard as usual.

"Tower?" He replied meekly, a rare emotion crossed Hinabi's eyes, and Adara suddenly felt like an intruder.

"We will get there tomorrow, rest now." Hinabi soothed, she gently watered a cloth and dampened his for head. Lee closed his eyes and you could feel a faint smile trace his lips. Hinabi lifted his head up gently to give him more water.

"I'll go outside and keep watch," Adara said leaving the intimate scene behind. She had always known that Lee had feelings for Hinabi; half of their graduating class had feelings like that for Hinabi. It had never accrued to her before that Hinabi had feelings for Lee. Or was it just her being a tender leader for once? Adara's thoughts were gravitating towards Keiji again. He seemed never to be far from her mind. Was he ok? Where was he? Did he have to drop out cause of the explosion? Keiji, Keiji, Keiji…

--- -- - -- - - -

Kiba was sitting down and leaning against the wall; it was almost time for him to assign rooms. And in his mind it couldn't be sooner, poor Kaida was had already fallen asleep against Akamaru. Her red hair falling gently over her child's face, something told him that when she grew up she would have to beat guys off with freshly sharpened katana. A strong need to protect her rose in him, he was beginning to become…fond of her and her too intelligent eyes. But now was time for bed. Kiba picked Kaida up and hoisted her on his back; the little eyes didn't even flutter. "Ok, People follow me," I'll be assigning rooms for each team, once inside you can not leave until a chunnin comes in the morning and unlocks you. If you are caught leaving at night you will be disqualified, do you understand?" Kiba asked the 5 Gennin behind him.

The two boys from the sand were to the farthest right whispering and snickering to each other. The Sand girl seemed to be preening herself towards the male on Kaida's team, who looked extremely uncomfortable. The purple haired girl also seemed to be ignoring the murderous looks coming from Zaki who was on the left war as far away from the sand people as physically possible. It was an interesting tableau. "Sand team you got room on your left, get in there now!" He barked, in an instant the three sand kids were in there like scurrying little rabbits. "You guys get this room on the right!" He barked at the two, they didn't scurry, the grey haired girl sauntered over to the door, and the boy stopped in front of him. "What?" He asked the boy.

The gold eyes just lifted with a little surprise and held out his hands…oh he wanted Kaida, duh! Kiba gave the girl to her team mate who rested her head over his shoulder. "Good night," the boy said.

"Good night," Kiba replied tenderly. Once the boy closed the door, he locked it along with the other room's door. He sighed; a good day's work earned him a good long nap.

---- --

Yamato was counting his take; there had always been a pool for the sensei whose team arrived first. His team had not been the favorite, 550 dollars so far. He looked at the line of people waiting to pay him. A great big grin appeared on his face, before him stood Morino Ibiki there is justice in this world. "Let's see .NO" Yamato said pulling out his name. He saw the interrogator give him the glare. "You put…ouch, 200 dollars on Neji's team." Yamato gave a whistle. "So that's how much you owe me!"

"Shut up, Yamato," Ibiki growled as he pulled out his wallet "Do you take checks?"

"No," Yamato said with pleasure, "Cash only."

Ibiki started drawing out dollar bills from his wallet, "This is the first time in 9 years I have lost this pool." He muttered; every word full of contempt.

"Guess this isn't' your lucky year,"

"Hn; do you know who there sensei's will be?" Ibiki asked him.

Yamato's smile vanished, he hadn't really thought about getting each one of them a personal sensei yet. He wasn't going to admit this crucial fact to Morino though, "Y-y-yes!" He stammered. That was smooth Yamato.

"Who?"

"Well," Yamato said mouth open, "I'll tell you later, there are a number of other people who need to pay me right now."

Ibiki eyed him, "You haven't thought about it at all," He said before leaving the money on the counter.

Well crap…

---- -- - - - --- -

Max sat at the bar; Allie was serving some the guys. Gideon was at the bar, with Sodo right next to him. Gideon had short spiky leaf green hair and dark hunter green eyes; he was a mechanic with a little girl of about 5? Sodo was a junkie with coal black eyes and midnight blue hair. He was one of the many fatherless children in the dregs who where the last of the uchiha. But Sodo was trash he knew it, he was proud of it, and it was kind of endearing.

"So when's Zaki's getting back from her adventures," Sodo asked after a good swallow of scotch.

"Don't know," Max shrugged. Then being Sara and totally annoying the dead mother popped into the empty seat next to him.

"Oh I'm more nervous then when Gai went on his Chunnin exams." Sara spilled. Max ignored her.

"Believe me, if the dunderhead shinobi that I knew could pass that test, so can Zaki," Allie assured them.

"You should get us some drinks." Sara whined. "If not for you then for me!"

"Go away," Max dismissed waving his hand.

"What?" Allie turned to him and asked.

"Nothing," Max hurried, fuck you Sara, "I'm sure Zaki will pass."

"You know what you should do?!" Sara said voice lifting high; face animated. "you should wait outside the, that building…oh I don't know what it is, with signs and posters saying like 'yahoo Zaki' 'represent' that's what Zak, Allie and I did for Gai when he passed the first two tests of the chunnin exams!" God this woman could babble.

--- - - - --- -

Yamato had made up his mind on who was going to help who. He was going to ask Tenten to teach Kaida this month. Kaida was great when it came to moves and her Kekkei Genkai, but she needed more help with the basics. Accuracy was something she could approve on rather dramatically.

Keiji needed to figure out that, even though he was a barbarian, he needed to realize charging in on every situation wasn't smart. Yamato still didn't understand the workings of that Kekkei Genkai, brain malfunction thing? He thought he would ask Hinata, she was sweet and she will connect really well with Keiji, and her gentle fist style will help Keiji approve immensely.

Zaki; it took Yamato a while to figure out what to do with her. Yamato first thought he would be her sensei, and then he remembered he promised Naruto and Kakashi to help them train Naruto more on element jutsu's. SO he went through his head who he could ask, Rock Lee, hahahah not likely. Ino, definite no. Chouji, he didn't want the teddy bears feelings to get hurt. Shikimaru would probably be helping his sister, and he couldn't trust the two of them to do any work. Kiba, Shino? Yamato couldn't think of how they could help Zaki approve. In the end Yamato came to his first conclusion, he would be her sensei. Zaki would just have to get over the fact that Naruto will be there.

Now it was time for him to go to bed.

-- - - - - -

Keiji had woken up about an hour ago; a different Chunnin let them out of their rooms, and now they were in line to get there breakfast. It was eggs, maybe, it kind of resembled eggs. Kaida was behind him, wiping sleepy eyes away. Zaki was at the end of the line, being anti-social to the sand sibs. Adara wasn't here yet…Keiji heaved a great sigh.

"Hey there, don't look so down." Chirped the familure voice of Isis, her hair was done unnaturally well for the morning and her smile was genuine. "The food looks…" She scrunched up her face and stuck out her tongue. "Maybe it's poisoned?" she asked out loud. Keiji and Isis heard coughing behind them, Aepep was chocking on his fork.

"Poisoned?!" He shouted. "They taste like eggs, even if they don't look like eggs." Thoth just hits his belly and burps.

"Taste just fine to me."

Isis rolled her eyes, "I know they are my team mates, but sometimes I feel like I need to kill those two." Keiji and Isis were now out of the line he didn't know where to go, Should he sit where Isis leads him to be polite, or should he just sit where ever Kaida sits. And why is Zaki giving him the stink eye?! Isis nods her head to the left "Lets sit over here."

"Uhh, sure?" Keiji says in response. He let the purple hair Koniochi lead him to the left and sit down. She starts talking, Keiji looks over to the doors, where was Adara?

-- - - -

Adara was so relieved; her team was headed towards the tower, finally! Lee was back to his regular self and Hinabi was making sure there was no ambush waiting. They got to the doors and Hinabi opened one of them, letting Lee and Adara go in before her.

Adara scanned the room, there were six people here, in the very middle on the make shift tables were two guys she had never seen before. One had skinny girl jeans on and more gel in his hair then should be allowed. The other one took guy liner to a whole new level. Adara looked to the left Kaida was leaning on the wall toying with what was on her plate. It didn't look very edible. Zaki was no where to be seen, but if Kaida was here that meant, Adara scanned the room.

There was: WHO THE HELL IS THAT SLUT TALKING TO KEIJI! Adara's inner voice screamed.

The girl and Keiji were facing each other cross legged on the ground. Keiji was laughing sheepishly, and that skank was batting her eyelashes and flipping her hair in his direction. Adara felt a bad taste come into her mouth. Adara didn't' want to draw too much attention, so she just fallowed Hinabi's lead to put there stuff away by the wall next to Kaida. Kaida just waved, she seemed beat.

"Adara!" A surprised Keiji's voice rang out from the other side of the room; Adara turned around and tried not to glare at the purple haired ho. Keiji rushed to her and gave her a hug, it took all of Adara's will not to melt into it, he smelled so good!

"Hey Keiji," She said.

"I'm so glad you're here." His voice oozed with a truthful passion that made Adara's legs melt.

"I'm glad you are here too." Adara responded.

An overly sweet voice oozed over to them, "Keiji, who is this?" It asked. It was that purple haired bimbo, from now that Adara could see, from the Sand. That explains it Adara had met a few Sand Koniochi in her day, and they are all way too sexually expressive for their own good. Except Temari, but still this girl was a slut, and she didn't like her!

Adara extended her arm, "Hi I'm Nara Adara."

"Bes Isis," The purple haired girl replied taking Adara's hand, there hand shake was slow and deliberate. Slut, skank, Ho, easy, ugly, bitch, is what Adara's eyes said to the girl, and the girl replied in kind. They let go.

"Where's Zaki?" Adara asked.

"She's eating in the room." Keiji replied, Adara raised an eyebrow, his eyes darted to Isis. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Are Kristi and Parker here yet?"

"No."

"More friends of yours?" Isis sickly sweet voice questioned.

"Yes." Adara smiled at her.

"I guess all we can do is wait." Isis responded.

If Adara had to stand another 5 minuets with this girl, let alone wait for any period of time, she was going to punch her in the face.

**Sorry it took so long, I'm going to try to really crank out chapters, cause in 25 days I'm off to Germany for 2 weeks: D hope you can RnR**


	29. The future challenges

**Hey Everyone, I haven't had a computer to type a chapter on all summer********, but here is an update :D. **

Everything was ok now. Adara was back, she was safe, she was going to pass this exam and show everybody who thought she wasn't as good as Shikimaru. Keiji smiled as he talked to his best friend, who seemed a little agitated about something. "Excuse me, but I'm going to go by my team mates now." A cool and icy voice came from behind him. It was Isis, Keiji was surprised that she was still here, he had forgotten about her when after he introduced Adara. She didn't seem like the light hearted girl he was talking to earlier, but the girl who broke Zaki's skateboard because it annoyed her.

"Bye?" He replied. Adara didn't register the girl walking away. Adara was trying not to be gloaty that Keiji didn't give that sand skank the time of day. She seemed not so cheery and nice and flirty once she realized that Adara was not just stopping over to say hi. Keiji didn't even register any of her horrible flirting attempts. "So what's with Zaki being all Anti-social?"

"Well she just doesn't like Isis that much," Keiji tried to explain.

Adara rolled her eyes, "I wonder why?"

Keiji looked a little befuddled, "Well for some reason after another little accident with the skate board making everybody fall, Isis came over and broke it right in front of Zaki's face. I don't know why, she seemed really nice and friendly when I was talking to her before."

Adara didn't know how to reply to that comment, why would he even be talking to Isis if she broke Zaki's skate board? Realizing her mouth was gapping a little bit in confusion she shut it. "Did you guys see Parker's team any wear?" It was safest to change topic.

"No I haven't I was hoping you guys would have seen them being in the forest for longer. We were the first ones to get here you know," Keiji smiled, He was so cute when he smiled it was so sweet and, oh back on topic! Earth to Adara Earth to Adara, she screamed to herself.

"Really you were the first to get here, that's great Keiji!" She told him. Keiji wondered if she realized how cute she looked when she smiled. Why was she asking after Parker? Did she like Parker? He was really good looking and first in their class all the time. NO she was just asking after Kristi, Kristi and her are friends right? "Yeah, we didn't see Parker anywhere." Something growled inside him at the mention of Parkers name. "I hope they are all safe." Another bigger growl had to be suppressed from the pit of his stomach.

"I'm sure they are safe and sound." Keiji added to the conversation, he had no reason to act that way towards Parker, its not like he liked Adara or anything. She was just his best friend of course he was going to be protected.

----- ---v—

Gaara finished his paper work for the evening, in the morning he would be heading towards Konoha, the second exams would be over tomorrow, and the extra month before hand gave him time to have more meetings about Border tariffs and the such like with Tsunada. Not that he was looking forward to those, but it would be a good excuse to spend some time with Zakuro, and Naruto. He wondered to himself if they knew each other? Would they get along? Probably Naruto got along with everybody. Sighing to himself in annoyance and anticipation he got back to work.

--- - --

Max was still at the Zoo with only Allie, he had been their sense the start of the exams and was proud that he only had 3 drinks all to appease the ever present woman in his head. He never knew Sara that much when she was alive, he had gotten to know her too well after her death. Allie was wiping the counter in a nervous silence. Well for her silence for Max nagging time.

"Why are you just sitting here, you should get my daughter something to congratulate her. Like flowers I always loved flowers, roses, roses are romantic. Yellow roses, no Red ones, no those really cool white ones. But I guess white ones would be a little weird considering white means death! But yes go over to the flower shop and by some roses." A little breath in between her speech. "on second thought don't get her flowers get her chocolates. Flowers never last, but chocolate doesn't last either, but you can eat chocolate." Sara continued to talk but Allie spoke up so he tried to pay attention to the live one, despite the ever present buzzing in his ear.

"You think she made it to the end of the two exams?" Allie asked, wringing the rag in her hand absentmindedly, the dirty liquid plopped back on the fake wood counter a little pitter patter erupting from the drops. The woman closed her eyes and raised her head to the ceiling to give a monumental sigh. The bags under her eyes seemed more promenade than ever in that light. She looked like something had drained her of all her fight. Allie had been looking like that ever since the funeral. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere. She seemed less alert more confused, As Max looked at the older woman he could see her suppressing a shudder.

"You ok their Allie?"

Allie gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "oh no I'm fine, I just seems to keep dawning on me how hard being a shinobi is."

"Oh she never made that big of a fuss when Gai went to the Chunnin exams, it never crossed her mind that he might fail." Sara chirped in. "But maybe that's cause she doesn't believe in my daughter as much!"

"Shut up," Max murmured to Sara under his breath. She seemed to like accusing Allie of never being their when it was her that was never there. "You didn't go through this with Gai?"

Allie's head snapped at Max, her eyes narrowed to little slits as she examined him, then her face softened and she dipped her rag in the ruddy water, giving another heaving sigh. "No, back then I just hid it better. You can do that when you're younger, hide feelings, it gets to tiresome after a while." Allie shook her head her brunette hair clingy to her damp face. She whispered something to herself that Max could barely make out. "He was never so young."

---- --

_Allie stood outside the fence of some government building waiting. The exam was supposed to take four days. It was the last day, Allie waited with baited breath. She wondered if he would come out as beat as some of his missions. "Here they come." Zack said leaning into the fence next to Allie. Sara came and leaned her head against his shoulder. _

"_I don't see him." Sara said. "Wait a second, there is that horrible haircut we gave him." Sara said pointing to a bowl cut head. _

"_Shut up he looks good." Allie defended. She pushed on the fence making it wobble, "GAI! OVER HERE!" Zack and Sara soon joined her yells to get his attention. The bowed bowl haircut looked up and scanned the horizon, seeing them Gai Smiled and waved. His attention was quickly averted by a Konoichi around his age who started talking to him. She was pretty had blue eyes and red hair, she smiled at Gai and Gai smiled back. Jealousy ran down Allie's spine but she quickly shook it away. This was Gai that they were talking about not some philandering teen. After talking to the pretty girl for a while Gai nodded goodbye and headed towards his friends outside of the gate. When he got nearer Allie noticed the swollen lip and the bruised chin accented with the nicely blackened eye. _

_Gai was out on their side of the gate what seemed like forever. Allie rushed over to him and flung herself into his open arms. At the time they seem so strong firm like they would never break. They melted together completely for a while basking in the other person's scent. Allie went on her tip toes and rested her head on Gai's shoulder. He kissed her forehead. _

"_Hey Might!" A guy shouted from the other side of the fence, he had jet blue hair and coal black eyes, he wore a blue shirt that had a fan on it. "I'll pay 3 dollar's for your mom." Gai's eyes went cold and Allie could feel his muscle's clench from under her._

_Gai started to say something "You…"_

"_I know that is rather a high price," The Uchiha said snidely, rubbing his chin and inspecting Allie and Sara. "Tell yah what, throw in those two little dishes yah got with yah and we will call it even. A dollar for each seems totally fair don't it." Allie clung to Gai's clenched arm, his whole body was ready to spring. _

_Allie looked over towards Zak, Sara was literally pulling him away from the Uchiha, The boy behind the fenced laughed. "Wanna go Scum?" _

"_Let's just go guys." Sara Pleaded, Zack stood his ground and looked at Gai. If Gai was in for a fight so was Zack. Every muscle in Gai's arm was tensed and it dawned on Allie just how built he was. _

"_Come on Gai, we don't need to mess around with that trash." She whispered into his ear. Gai closed his eyes and took one wide breath. Finally turning around. _

"_Don't worry Might, I'll have that piece on your arm sooner or later." The Uchiha yelled after him. Gai wrapped his arm around Allie's waste. _

_Later in that day, the four of them were hanging out in Allie's apartment above the zoo, her vinyl record was on and they listened to it and passed the sake around. After 3 rounds Sara and Zak excused themselves to go take care of some business. When the other two left the apartment Allie smiled and straddled Gai's hips. "I think we should take care of business too." She whispered seductively planting soft kisses around his jaw line. Gai stole a long passionate kiss from her lips and before she knew it her jacket was off. She soon felt his huge hands skimming the top of her stomach and side, just barely touching above her rib cage. _

_Letting out a breath of contentment allie ran her hands through Gai's hair. Taking in all of his musky scent. Her top two buttons on her shirt were quickly undone so Gai could start planting kisses on her collar bone. "Never" He muttered as he nipped her neck leaving a little love bite. She shuttered under his tender touch. "Never." He repeated to himself as he nipped at her ear lobe. Allie took his head and forced him to look up, that didn't stop his wondering hands though, one was on her lower back steadying her and the other one was massaging her thigh through her pant. _

"_Never what?" She asked her breath a little shaky as she felt her bra being undone. Gai returned to kissing and nipping her neck. _

"_Never going to let that son of a bitch lay a finger on you." He explained nuzzling her neck. _

_Allie backed off his lap a little so he would look her in the eyes. "Is that what this is about, that nothing back there?" Gai looked away; Allie took his chin and let their faces get close feeling pleasure in the fact that his breathing was heavier then hers. "Look, I'm yours Gai, only yours I've always been yours, nothing is ever, and may I repeat ever, going to change that." Allie let herself take time in taking off his shirt and tracing his abbs before discarding her own shirt, and letting their bodies melt together again. "I love you gai." She breathed as his hands reached the zipper of her own jeans. In response he devoured her lips in his. _

--- ---

"Hey guys thanks for meeting me on such short notice," Yamato said to Ten Ten and Hinata. Both of them nodded and took their ramen's from the server.

"You are welcome Yamato-san," Hinata replied with a head bow.

"Hey a free meal was included, why wouldn't I come?" Ten Ten replied digging her chopsticks into the bowl.

"Well like I was saying on the way here, My gennin team just passed the first two exams. And the month of training is coming up, and I can't teach all of them one on one combat when I have to teach all of them so if you guys would be temporary sensei's to two of my students that would be great."

Ten Ten chewed her ramen thinking about it and Hinata's eyes looked away into the sky at the offer. "What they like?" Finally came out of Ten Ten's mouth.

"Um well Kaida, she's 8 and very …feisty? She's got a lot of gumshin and drive in her, A little red headed firecracker." Yamato said his mind turned to his tallest student, "Keiji, can be a little slow on the uptake. But he works harder than most and will give his hardest if he thinks hes right. His ugh Kekkei genkei can be a little hard to control but I think it will be fine with the byakugan," Yamato explained.

"Hmmm, sounds like fun, won't have a decent sparring partner any way cause Neji will be busy training Hinabi. I'm in Yamato, thanks for the lunch." Ten Ten said getting up and strolling away a kunai twirling in her hand out of habit.

"Are you sure you want me…there is no other choice better for the boy?" Hinata asked.

"There are others but I think you will help him the most." Yamato said trying to choose his words carefully. Hinata bit her lip thinking.

d

"well…I guess if you have no one else too, yeah I'll do it."

"Arigato."

---- ---- -- - -

The day went by like a sloth and the night went too fast. The next day there was very little milling about with the other teams. Today was the last day before they told them who they were going to be fighting during the first round of the third Chunnin exams. Kaida scanned around the room trying to size up all the people who she might be fighting. The Sand kids she had no idea about, what they did, how they did it.. Kaida would have to get a little more information. But they didn't really scare her all that much. She doubted any gennin would have a technique that could get through her Kekkei Genkai.

Adara would be no problem if she had to fight her. Kaida had sparred with the bruenette before, she would just have to stay out of shadows and get close to her quick. Lee from what Adara had told her of was average, an average student that didn't really make any waves. Kaida could beat average.

Hinabi scarred her though. It took a while for her Kekkei Genkai to come to full power And if any of her main chakra points were closed she wouldn't be able to get to the next form. If some of her arm points were closed she could get around that there would just be some spot in her armor that would be more susceptible to getting hurt. Hinabi was a hyuuga she specialized in chakra attacks, Kaida would have to get her quick cause if that fight took longer than ten minutes she would probably lose.

The proctors started coming into the room, first that blond girl whose name was Temari and then the first proctor, last was a guy she didn't recognize, his hair looked like a black pinnapple on top of his head and he was wearing the regular Chunnin vest, he looked positively bored. "Everybody line up in one line from wall to wall in front of me, the Hokage will be coming soon. " The blond ordered, "We have 5 minuets till the end of the exam."

Where were Kristi and Parker and the others? Adara wondered feircly as they lined up they weren't going to make it. The line was silent Adara could hear every breath she took.

"3 more minutes." Temari announced.

"2 more minutes"

"1 more minuet." Suddenly a loud clang came from the door's, there was Parker standing their with Micah and Kristi on either side of him. The whole of the hall stared at them as they all strutted in. Adara thought that they prolly dallied so they could make a dramatic entrance. The stood in line right by the three kids from the sand. Isis gave them a scorching look.

Kaida was right in between Keiji and Zaki, Zaki being on one of the end of the line and Keiji standing right next to Adara.

Adara stood by Keiji and Lee with baited breath, who was it going to be? Who would she have to face Keiji, would she be able to even get up the strength to hit him, let alone beat him in the exam? Adara looked towards Shikimaru, he was calmly examining her through the corner of his eye. Looking as lazy as ever. The Hokage walked in, looking not to please to be there.

"Ok everybody listen up, Morino will be coming over with a box full of pieces of paper that have numbers on them, take a piece and report it back to him." Tsunada said her face in a scowl. Morino started at the far side near the Parker's squad.

Adara # 1…

.

.

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Keiji #4….

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Kaida # 6…

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Zaki #12…

After a couple minutes of Morino scribbling something out on a piece of paper h nodded towards the Hokage. "Ok everybody so Morino will read off your first match."

"1st Match Nara Adara vs. Sacmas Thoth,"

"That's the one in the baggy cloths." Keiji whispered in her ear.

"Yamagouchi Kristi Vs Keitaru Keiji." Keiji looked over towards Kristi, she had just smirked.

"Geiger Micah Vs. Mitsu Kaida." Kaida just widened her eyes in surprise, she should have been trying to keep up her little girl rutine but had forgotten, hopefully the sucker still falls for it.

"Hyuuaga Hinabi vs. Vang Lee." Adara could feel Lee stiffen up next to her, and almost swear to see some emotion cross the hyuuga's face before quickly replacing it with a block of stone.

"Parker Pop Vs. Bes Isis"

"And last, for that day will be Nefertiti Aepep Vs. Naruko Zakuro." Keiji looked over towards Zaki she smirked finding out who she was going to fight. It was the sand kid with the really tight pants on, the one who had given her all the crap before. She was going to kick his ass.

--- --- -- --

Yamato walked towards the meeting place. He looked around at the day sky so cheerful and blue. He started whistling down the path, putting his hands in his pockets and admiring the clouds.

"SHIT!" a voice said from behind him, looking around he saw that a woman 's grocerie bag had just busted open.

"Here let me help you." Yamato said as he bent down to pick up a bunch of carrots. "I know that grocery bags can be a bit…" In mid sentence he stopped as he caught the eye of the woman he was helping, her eyes was a deep blue and her hair was a flame red that fell out of her high ponytail in luscious curls around her face. She was wearing a long blue peasant skirt and a white billowy blouse. She smiled at him, showing a cute gap between her two front teeth. "Hi, I'm Yamato," He told her holding out his hand out for a shake just to realize it had a bunch of carrots in his hand. She chuckled at him taking the bunch of carrots.

"Thank you Yamato, My names Moses." She tried to extend one of her hands but they were too full with groceries.

"I can take half of that for you." Yamato said grabbing things out of her arms.

"Oh no I mean I don't want to make you late for where ever you going."

"No trouble I wasn't in a hurry." They walked for a block a while in silence.

"So, I haven't seen you around Konoha before, are you new?" He asked trying not to seem like he was prying.

"Well I really actually travel a whole lot, I've been here before though, I used to just come in here twice a week for like 4 whole months so I know Konoha pretty well." Moses explained, Yamato noticed a small dimple forming around her cheeks when she smiled.

"do you travel, I mean what I uh Why do you travel?" Nice dork he screamed at himself. Do you travel? She just told you she did!

"Well, I'm kind of a troubadour; you know traveling around playing my fiddle."

Stop stairing at her and reply dumbass he told himself. "Oh that's really cool, is that all you do, I mean play the fiddle."

"Mostly I play the fiddle I can play the pipe and other instruments of such, I sing too depending on my mood. I kind of do what ever you know go where the wind takes me. What do you do, I mean besides being a shinobi."

"Well I'm…wait how could you tell I was a,"

"Head band, kunai, it would be kind of weird if you weren't a shinobi and had those things."

"Yeah that would be really weird." You are such an idiot Yamato. "But yeah basically I'm just a a shinobi, I'm actually on the way to meet my team. Are you here for a while in Konoha or are you just you know visiting for a couple days."

"Actually I'm going to have to be here for a month and a half cause, I'm organizing my family reunion and well it's a big job." Moses stopped and looked at yamato Who stopped and looked at her…He stared at her for a while. "This Is my stop, I'm getting supplies to a friend." Yamato stopped and stared at her for a while mouth open thinking of something to say.

"Oh well here are you food, I mean, see yah around sometimes…maybe…I mean if you need anything done I mean shown you around Konoha, I'll be free so you know…"

"Yeah, it was nice meeting you, maybe I'll see yah around, bye." She turned around and opened a door Yamato didn't know what even there until then; she closed it gently behind her. Yamato stood there for another couple of seconds. God he was a dork!

**Hey hope you enjoyed this over due chapter, here is a little hint the more you review the faster I will write the next one.**


	30. Puzzle peices

Kaida was too tired to be exuberant about passing. There was something tiresome about those whole exams, they made her want to just give up doing anything for the next week. But no that will be training time, lots and lots of training. She wondered if they were going to get any missions in that time. Probably not cause it was training for a whole month…urgh. Yamato sensei better have something interesting planed. As they were led out of the forest kaida looked over to Keiji and Adara who were talking animatedly to each other. Zaki was sulking and clinging on to those two pieces of skate board.

"HONEY!!!" A familure voice yelled from the left of her. Behind a fence were her mother and father. Both waving and smiling energetically. Kaida tried not to show how embarrassed she was. She walked over to them hoping Kiba had gone and wasn't looking at her, if he met her parents in this state she would never be able to live it up.

"Hey mom, Hey dad, what are you two doing here?" She asked trying not to sound too stand offish. Never the less her parents weren't deterred.

"We came here to surprise you!" Her mother said with a smile.

"Yeah, to show our support of your decisions." Her father added, the two looked at each other and then at Kaida expectantly. If there was any mercy in the universe it would have let her suddenly become invisible.

"I was supposed to have lunch with sensei so he can talk about the third exam." Kaida told them, it was true but it wasn't lunch it was just a 15 minute meeting after words, but she could make it a whole lunch if needed. Anything to get away from her parents at the moment.

"Well could you speed up the meeting and then your sensei can have lunch with us." Her mother suggested, the two adults in front of her looked so excited she couldn't say no. Turning around she looked for her sensei. He was on the other side of the courtyard by a couple of tree's he was discussing something with Zaki and Keiji. Adara was by her own team captain not too far away. Kaida walked up to her team.

---- ---j—

"Congratulations." Neji said as he addressed Adara and her two team mates. "I have talked to all of your family's as soon as I found out you passed the second test. Adara, Lee you will be training in your family techniques, your training scheduled will be mandated by the head of your clan. I will contact you if we are assigned to any missions. Adara, Lee you two may leave now." Adara nodded said good bye to Hinabi and Lee as she went over towards Yamato and his team. No matter how much she tried she couldn't connect with Neji, he was just so…well there was nothing she had with him to make their sensei student relationship special. Yamato was so much cooler. Keiji and her were going to their tree after this to chill and talk more.

"Hey guys!" Yamato addressed his team "Well I have to say I'm really proud of you guys! First ones there, Hi five!" He raised his hands to be stared at with six eyes that disapproved. "Well I know I said I wouldn't take long but here's the 411, I wanted all of you to have specialized training so I got you all sensei's that can spend one on one time with you."

"Wait, your not training us?" asked Kaida, she looked kind of distressed.

"Well, we will still have group training once a week, if that makes you feel better but no I'm not training you… But a lady named Ten Ten will she's super cool you guys will get a long great. She wants you to meet her at the training grounds at 6 am tomorrow." Yamato started doubting his decision, maybe this wasn't the right choice for the team to split them up. But if he didn't they wouldn't be able to get any different type of training in. "Keiji, you will be training with Hyuuga Hinata, I know you know her sister, Neji is her cousin. She would like you to meet her in the park by the picnic tables at 8 am."

"Hi guys" Adara said from behind them, "are you done yet?" She asked Yamato, he looked at Keiji who looked like he wanted to leave also.

"You can leave Keiji nothing keeping you here." Yamato told him, he nodded bye to all of them and left with the girl. Yamato was amazed that those two didn't have any feeling for each other, but he supposed that they spent enough time together to be more sibling like then anything else.

"I'll be training with?" Zaki asked scowling; Yamato noticed that her skate board was broken. "You will be training with me and Naruto Uzamaki…" This defiantly did not improve her attitude her scowl got worse. "I'll be leaving now." Her voice was dead pan and it conveyed the 'I'm really not happy with you' attitude.

"Meet at the ramen stand tomorrow at 7, SHARP!" Yamato yelled after her when she was walking away. Yamato looked down to the only student who was left standing there Kaida. She looked tired. "You look tired are you heading home?" he asked her, she rolled her eyes and stuck her thumb out behind her, her parents were across the yard waiting for her.

"They want me to ask you to have lunch with us at the park."

"Sure, your not mad at me are you?" He asked her, "You don't feel like I'm abandoning you." The small girl sighed and took out her pony tails in her hair. The ruddy red locks fell across her pale face and her deep blue eyes looked worn out.

"No I get it Sensei, you think its for the best. I kind of have to agree with you, we are a great team and work very well together you made sure of that, from what I observed of the other teams, we had one of the best team work, but us as individuals aren't up to the fighting styles as the others. Its totally a legit thing." The eight year old explained.

"Thanks?"

----- --- d----

Max waited for Zaki at the border's of the dregs. He didn't know when she where her exam were and he didn't know when they ended. Max leaned against an old factory , Sara sat by his shoes playing with the strings. "Will you stop that?" He snarked at her.

"what?" the ghost asked innocently, "I'm bored, we've done nothing but wait all week, can't we do anything else, don't you have a job or something?"

"Not really, all the important stuff I just kind of borrow without permission, I have no prospects in life."

Sara rolled her eyes at him, "That's very comforting, nice to know my daughter hanging out with the right crowd." Max scowled at her.

"I'm planning on getting a job sooner or later, just waitin for Allie to give me a chance at the Zoo is all. You know for when she needs breaks and the like." He muttered under his breath.

"Yeah like that would ever happen, you will have to pry her cold dead fingers of that wash rag before she lets anyone else man that bar. Her and Gai used to get into fights about it all the time, when they were hitched you know? He would always be training during the day and she worked nights the only time they really got together they would yell at each other. Prolly what made their marriage go south in the end." Mused Sara as she stood up and faced max, there was something different about her.

"Don't worry I would never be a work aholic, I like doing nothing too much."

The woman shifted her gaze past the boy, "I always thought Gai and Allie ended it too quickly you know, that they didn't have enough time to just cool and simmer off. Sure Zak and I had a fair share of tussles, but we always ended it…one way or another. Somebody gave up or another apologized, even if we both knew it wasn't…wasn't true what the other was saying. We were romantic enough to think if we said it enough it would be true." Finally her Hazel eyes fell on to Max's face. "What are your plans with my daughter."

Max's face fell, Sara had never been that direct before. She would tease him about the future or what Zaki probably thought of him. "I …I can't tell you. I mean before she got into this shinobi business I would have told you we would take over to Zoo and maybe do a couple of concerts here or there with the band. Get married if I ever got her pregnant, just all around being a burden on society together. But then now? With this Shinobi business I really don't know. I see what life she could have, being a respectable Chunnin and all, training and walking around the nice side of town makes with that headband on and people look at you different. But…I can't be part of that life, I'm Dregs scum threw and threw I guess I just don't want to see her go." Sara stood there looking Max up and down for something.

"HEY Fucktard, what's yah doing lurking about?" Max looked up to see Zaki standing there, she looked happy, but Max could tell right away she wasn't.

"Waitin for you to finally come out of that exam, that's what" Max scoffed kicking some odd junk out of the way of his foot. Trudging over to where the girl was standing. Max looked at her and couldn't help but be swept away just a little. Her grey hair was matted up in a nest all around her neck and his clothes looked ragged and worn, the disheveled looked good on her. "Want to go to my place or the Zoo first?"

"I uh…Um what ever's good for you." That was not how Zaki answered, it was usually a snort and I don't care of whatever, never a whatever is good for you. He looked at her again and realized that her skate board was broken.

"What happened?" He asked.

Zaki looked away and mumbled "I don't want to talk about it…" Max put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it affectionately, then with his other hand he pulled her face towards him.

"We'll go to my house first and you can change into something different and take a shower and when you want to talk we can talk." Zaki leaned into his shoulder and rested her nose on the nape of his neck. Max felt privileged he was one of the only people she would let touch her.

Sara looked at her daughter with compassion trying to run her hands through the grey hair to sooth her down a little. "My poor baby girl, That skate board meant a lot to her"

"Come on, let's go" Max told her swinging his arm around her.

---- ---k----

Adara hoped up onto their branch right after Keiji. "That was four days of excitement." She stated sitting down.

"I think a little more excitement then I want for a while…" Keiji admitted scratching his head.

"yeah but now we are going to the third exam Keiji, you don't even have to win any of the matches just impress a bunch of Jounin."

"Its prolly a lot easier to impress them if you win though…" Keiji furrowed his eyebrows. "I mean its one thing to train with your friends but to go against them in a competition, and you know and hinder their chances at becoming Chunnin…"

Adara biffed Keiji across the back of the head, "I know what you're thinking, your thinking about taking it easy on Kristi cause you graduated the academy with her, and of course your too nice to think maybe you should beat her for your own good. NO all you think about is what if I hurt her feelings what if I crush her dreams! But you know what it's a competition, and she can always try again next year." Keiji shrugged, he was thinking something similar, but it wasn't about Kristi, yes he wouldn't go really hard on Kristi unless he had to, but what about Adara, if she won her first match and he won his then they would face each other. And the mere idea of hitting her made him want to vomit.

"I just don't want this getting to heated between anybody I would hate to ruin a friendship over this stupid thing." He murmured back.

"I doubt anybody is going to hold winning against you Keiji."

"You are assuming that I'm going to win Adara."

"Well its better then assuming you're not, any way Yamato's a good sensei he'll teach you cool new stuff, and you never know your Gramps might come out of retirement long enough to teach you something before then."

"I doubt it, Grandfather has always been very strict about even talking about training in the house, I think if I even mentioned it to him that I needed special training he would throw me out of the house. And Yamato isn't going to teach me, Hyuuga Hinata is."

"Yamato is dumping you on someone else too? Neji just stuck me with my dad."

"That makes sense, it's not like Neji knows the ins and outs of a shadow bind jutsu."

"He's never liked me very much, and I can't say I hold a huge opinion of him either. He's just so…frigid? Does that make me a bad person? Calling my Sensei frigid."

Keiji sat there in silence thinking, "I don't think so, some people's personalities can't fit together as nicely as others. You and Neji are just like puzzle pieces that belong on opposite sides of the puzzle."

Adara looked at Keiji and smirked, he came up with some weird analogies sometimes. "You know that oddly makes sense."

--- --- --d----

Yamato sat down in the park with Kaida's parents. They were very pleasant people and he could tell where Kaida got most of her personality from. The food was delicious and conversation interesting, this man knew more about history than anybody else he had ever met. "How did you learn all these things?" Yamato finally asked.

"Well, I always traveled before, my parents were basically nomadic like all of the mitsu clan, some settle down in a general area but most keep traveling the same routs. My parents were explorer's excavators they would travel to where ever they found a new place to dig some old society up. Despite what was going on there at the time. Well I guess that's where I got my need to learn all this stuff. When I was old enough to go off and travel alone I did." Lido told him blushing a little bit. Kin his wife kissed him on the cheek as she handed him some mayonnaise from his sandwhich. "Dear I didn't ask for any mayo."

"You want it though." His wife coerced pointing to his sandwich, he took one look at it and laughed.

"Of course your right darling I'm sorry I forget it was ham on the sandwich and not turkey."

The grass green eyes of the woman sparked as she teased her husband, "Can memorize 20 different languages, can't remember what's on his sandwich, what kind of man did I marry."

In response Lido gave a hearty laughed and kissed her cheek afectionatly, "A fool honey you married a fool with a fools heart."

"Good thing I'm a hopeless romantic." She replied as they shared another peck on the lips. These two practically acted like newlyweds.

"Could you two stop?" Asked Kaida in annoyance as she finished off her 4th sandwich, "It's embarrassing."

"No it's not Kaida, I'm Sure Yamato-san isn't embarrassed at all. Are you Yamato-san?" Her mother asked. In truth Yamato was a little embarrassed, but saying that would be very rude, and rude was something he hated being.

"No of course not, it's nice that your parents are still affectionate after, how many years?"

"12,"Lido said squeezing his wife's hand.

"really how did you guys meat?"

The two suddenly looked uncomfortable, "Well we ran off and eloped when I was oh I 18 that made you, 19?" Kin asked her husband.

"What month was it?" He asked again.

"It was late may early June"

"Then yes I was 19." Lido replied.

"What did your family's not approve of the marriage."

"Well I was engaged to a young up and coming Jounnin of the sand who was politically and locally very influential. So I guess my family wasn't very happy about my decision no.

"My mother and father didn't' know until 3 months later, so I guess they never had time to disapprove."

"Who are we disapproving of?" A voice said from behind them, Kaida sprang up off the ground and looked around for its source. The little girl who had been unusually quiet and dull all afternoon was now up and ready and beaming like crazy. It took a Yamato a minute to realize where the voice came from. And when he did his heart stopped.

----- --- - s- ---

Zaki was out of the shower and in a new set of Max's clothes. She came down to his kitchen with a scowl on her face. "You going to tell me what happened?" Max asked as she sat down.

"I hate these clothes." Zaki snipped. "When was the last time I wore my clothes?"

"Um…"

"I don't know since before I became a gennin? Doesn't a girl have the right to her own clothes?"

Max looked at Zaki she looked on the verge of tears, they had never had this problem before. "could go back to your house, Get some of your old stuff back, probably a couple of Sara things back as well."

"Can't! He's there that god forsaken son of a bitch, He's in my house, that house belongs to me! But I'm living with you and he's living in MY house. How does that work? Why the hell and I'm letting him stay there."

Max looked at Zaki she was pacing back and forth around his kitchen, "I thought you hated that house."

Zaki snapped her eyes on him, burning a deep hazel, "Doesn't change the fact that its mine!" Finally as though giving up Zaki slammed down onto the ground, there was only one chair in his kitchen and he was sitting in it. Her voice was high on wobbly. "I deserve the right to my things to have them to not have to sneak in and borrow. They are mine and people can't just take them away from you. They can't just…" Max bent down to hold Zaki. She was crying even though she tried to hide it. IT only made

"Hey ,Tommorrow we can go get all your things from that man, but tonight, we need to celebrate…We know have a respectable soon to be Chunnin in the dregs." Max smiled at her and she smiled right back.

------- --- ---

Yamato did a double take The woman had flamed colored hair and a white blous on that matched her blue peasant skirt. It was Mosses the girl he met before earlier that day. Kaida ran up to her and gave her a giant hug which the woman returned in kind. The other two Mitsu's did the same giving the flame red hair similar hugs.

"Mosses you're here! Mosses you're here!" Kaida yelled at the top of her lungs in joy.

"Yes I am Kaida, you can stop yelling." The woman said with a smile. "Hello Kin, Hello Lido."

"Sit down, Sit down." Lido said with a smile as he patted a seat on the picnic basket. Mosses kindly replied.

"Do you want ham or turkey?" Asked Kin taking some bread out of the bag.

"Turkey, lettuce, light mayo and provolone cheese if you got any." Mosses replied, Yamato's heart did a little spin that was the exact type of sandwich he got. Not that it meant anything, but it was something they had in common.

"Oh so silly of me, Yamato this is Lido's 7th cousin twice removed Mosses, she's here to set up stuff for the Great meeting later this year. How far away is it dear?"

"Oh Kin it's about a month and a half, and I'm not doing all the setting up, I'm just making sure all the renting and stuff that HT did last year is going to go smoothly. In about a month all the hotels in Konoha are going to be bursting by the seams with small red headed people and it's going to seem like an invasion." Mosses replied.

Not wanting to sound out of the loop Yamato interjected, "The Great Meeting, I read about that somewhere, its big, I thought they had it in like the sacred place like on the out skirts of Konoha." Yamato noted the seating. Kaida was sitting right next close to Mosses , Kin sat behind those too busy making Mosses a sandwich and Lido sat in between Him and Mosses.

Mosses was going to say something but Lido interrupted, they made eye contact and she rolled her eyes at him mouthing, 'know it all' "Well you see the Great meeting is a weeklong ceremony. First the mitsu clan starts walking towards the holy area, being led by the High templar, that usually takes a day and a half, and then we rest. The next day we wake up do the ceremony that takes a day. Then we walk back another Day and a half then there is a huge party where everyone is invited to. That's what mosses is heading, the big party afterward."

"Oh wow that's, really cool, sounds important." Yamato told her, "How did you get stuck with the job?"

"It was voted on by the elders of the clan. Now I have to arrange a party for 600 plus people!"

"There are 600 plus people in your clan?" Yamato chocked, He knew they were a big clan but he didn't know it was that big.

"oh well the official clan is about 361 members, those are the people who still call themselves Mitsu, There are a lot of people out there who are part Mitsu but they don't practice. You see to actually get to be at the meeting and be part you have to be 3/4th Mitsu or have the ability of the Kekkei genkai automatically becomes a full blood Mitsu. And at the after party anybody who is willing to come can come basically, So I'm hoping it will be about 600+ people. It might be more; I'm not exactly getting Rsvp's." Mosses explained to Yamato.

"Honey are you still staying at that Hotel?" kin asked.

Mosses rolled her beautiful eyes again "Yes, and no I'm not going to stay with you guys, your cramped enough as it is,"

"But it's so expensive for you to stay there, even if it is a flat rate." Kin continued to scold. Yamato had an idea, but he wasn't sure how he wanted to say it.

"Um did you pay all of it already?" He asked.

"No right Now I'm just paid for tonight," She stated tucking a reckless flame lock around her ear in annoyance. Yamato wouldn't mind doing that for her.

"Well I know we just met and all but, I have an extra pull sofa bed, in my living room, and well you could use it if you like." WHAT THE HELL WAS he doing? He yelled at himself, this was such a creeper move, but it wasn't like he was asking for anything just, she could stay with him.

"Oh my Yamato that is such a nice offer!" Kin said as she looked at Mosses who was thinking about it.

"Well just so you know," she replied cautiously, "I am a dish dryer, vacumer, coffee addict and I snore"

Yamato went through the list, and smiled, "well I am a dish washer, duster, coffee addict and I don't mind snoring."

Kaida looked at Yamato and Mosses her eyes sparkling with something Yamato didn't recognize.  
"Well you two fit together like two puzzle pieces don't yah?" She started laughing and then talking about the Chunnin exams.

**Hey everyone, LOL Chapter 30!!! Yeah I want to thank the three readers that have been reviewing regularly:D **

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**Thanks all of you I really really appreciate it you keep this story going :D**


	31. Starting Fresh

**I'm thinking of changing the summery for this story so I can get more readers…hopefully, Have any ideas? Might change name too but not so sure right now…PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE THOUGHTS!!!**

Mosses had less belongings then Yamato had thought. All her stuff sleeping bag and bed roll and all was packed neatly in to a slightly larger than average bag. Not that he was expecting her to have a lot of stuff, it's not like he thought about it enough. He just assumed that as a woman she would have more like most of the konoichi's he knew. But now that he thought about it, it would be stupid for a woman who traveled all the time to have a lot of stuff. The things that took up most of her room on her pack was all the different instruments, on top she had a fiddle strapped to the bag, The left side hung one recorder, wood flute and was that a piccolo? On the other side hung a flat drum, she also carried in her hand a guitar bag.

"Do you know all those instruments?" he asked out of casual conversation as they walked up the stair well to his apartment.

"More or less, some I'm better then other's" they walked down the base hall with casual weariness. As they got to 14B Yamato pulled out a key. "do you have a spare?" She asked.

He had to stop for a second to think about her question, spare…oh key, a small blushed crawled up his face. "um maybe I have to look, if I ever do lock myself out I just crawl through a window…but I think I might have one, in a drawer somewhere…"

"Ah, Ok" was her reply as she stepped through the open door. The sight that greeted them was homey and pleasant room; at least to Yamato he looked at Mosses to see how she liked her surroundings. Her face was so beautiful with the little freckles and slightly bucks teeth. His mind wondered what her mouth would taste like.

The room was a very light sky blue almost a white with a hint of blue. When Yamato had first moved in he had tried to get a matching set of furniture, but with all the missions he had been going on he never had the time. But he tried to get a cohesive theme with nice mahogany wood. His couch was a big comfy tan leather couch that was in the middle of the room. On the left hall was a mahogany wood vertical display case that showed all the little souvenirs he had gotten over all his missions ranging from a 25cent fan a little girl gave him for rescuing her cat to a priceless Flickien art scroll a daimyo gave him for finding the traitor among his servants. On the right hand was a shelf of odd and end books he found interesting and different pictures of his friends and old team mate. The oldest being that of the Third giving him his Chunnin title, and the latest being him of his gennin at the ice cream parlor.

"Uh one second let me get the extra sheets," He said going through the door to the kitchen then towards his bedroom, where his closet of death was held. He hoped it wouldn't explode on him like it usually did. He quickly opened the door and found the sheets.

"Well if you go through that door it's the kitchen, then the other door is my room, sorry you're going to have to go through my room to get to the bathroom."

"No problem I'll just make sure to knock,"

--- ---- - --- ---- --

The next morning Kaida woke up at 5 to get ready for training. She had always known that some shinobi preferred training earlier in the morning, lucky for her neither Yamato nor she were some of those shinobi's. But apparently TenTen sensei was an early bird. The little red head had tossed all night thinking of reason's she wouldn't get along with her new sensei. And the fact that she had to wake up early had made it at the top 5. Making herself a couple pb&js for snacks, she left Yo at home now for training, there really was no reason to take him anyway.

She walked over to the training area; it was one of the smaller ones with a bunch of targets on the tree in different angles. The silence around them was deafening. Nobody was there, she looked up to the surrounding area. It was kind of creepy. A snap of some twigs from her left had Kaida draw out a kunai. It was silent again. The little red head went to go inspect the noise her kunai out, the bushes were thick, probably just some rabbit. As she spread them with her arms out her saw a little seal and kunai in the ground,

Before she could even register anything else four kunai came at her back, she somersaulted backward. Just to see that the Kunia's were not aimed at her but the seal, as one of them struck the middle of the seal; everything around her exploded.

Tenten looked at the girl; she seemed kind of dollish red hair and small stature made her look meek and mild. The older woman felt bad for what was about to happen to her. She had come to the area early and set up a dozen different traps or so all going to go off when she tells them to. The noise was easy to make and the girl had done just what was expected, triggering the next trap made Tenten a little guilty, this girl obviously had no idea what was going to happen. The trap that she had just set off was a little invention of her owns a combination of flash bombs and senbon's. The girl was knocked back into another tree on the other side of the clearing, she had four senbon's in her arms and one in her neck. Her little hands went right to form a seal, Tenten set off another trap.

Kaida set her hands together forming two hand seals before three kunia's came at her; she rolled to dodge and watch them lodge themselves halfway in the tree she had just been resting on. Her heart was hammering as she finished the hand signs, four little Kaida's popped up and went different directions. As she put chakra into her feet running up the tree to get a betters' eye view of the situation. She was halfway up another trap was set off causing three of her shadow clones to disappear in a puff of smoke. Kaida created four more shadow clones, if she created one more shadow clone she wouldn't have enough chakra to morph, but she wasn't going to morph unless she had too. She got the top of the branches and looked around; her four clones were going around looking for the traps. She saw the perpetrator.

Tenten knew where the little girl was, she was in the tree's looking for her, she turned around and made eye contact with the little one, her brown eyes met the others blue eyes, she winked and dropped onto the ground. To be met with a little fist in her face, it was a shadow clone. Tenten stabbed it and made a clone of her own; two could play at that game.

Kaida started towards another tree, what was going on here? She hit another trap on accident a kunai exploded and lodged into her left shoulder; she lost her footing and fell.

Tentens' clone jumped in the air and smashed her student into a tree then another one round house kicked her to the ground. When the small body was on the ground she put a kunai to her throat and waited for the girl to retaliate.

Kaida closed her eyes as she was kicked to the ground, the cold metal on her skin made her brain race, what should she do all of her clones were out and it took a long time for her to change if she wasn't at peek chakra. She could pretend to be passed out and wait until the woman was done; the woman she was facing wasn't holding back anything. Yamato could have been at her level but he always checked himself. This woman wasn't doing that, could this be Tenten?

"I give up, Sensei?" Kaida said her voice dry, the pain in her arms was getting to her, the mettle was lifted from her throat and she opened her eyes to see a woman with milk chocolate eyes and tan skin smirk at her. The woman had two buns in her brown hair. Her pink lips formed a smirk as she motioned with her head for Kaida to stand up. The older woman turned around allowing Kaida time to get up. As she stood up the woman's foot made contact with her little chest sending her flying towards another tree.

"Shinobi never give up."

----- --- --- ----

Adara walked over to Keiji's house early in the morning. She had never met Hinata, but she already had a deep rooted respect for the woman anybody who could make Hinabi respect them so fiercely was worth more than a second glance over. Keiji would be having his first training session with Hinata, way before she needed to be any wear. So being more curious than what is good for her she decided to at least walk Keiji there to be able to catch a glimpse of the woman.

--- j ---

Keiji got up that morning to the smell of pancakes and bacon. His head brimmed with the possibilities of his new sensei. He imagined her to be a tall more hawk like version of Hinabi. Or maybe a little more cold and elegant. During the academy years he had a deep rooted respect and admiration for Hinabi. In his Academy years he had mistaken that admiration of Hinabi as crush or love. But as he saw her less and less he thought of her less and less. Hinabi was a person to admire her skills and self control, but when Keiji finally saw her at the Chunnin exams the same rattle in his stomach was missing. His shortness of breath was gone, and he found her ice like presence more of a novelty then the mysterious beauty it once was.

Heading down towards the smell his grandparents were in there usually places. His grandmother finishing up the last of the batter and grandfather in his chair reading the morning paper, a typical morning in the house of kaitaru. His grandmother smiled as she put out a plate at his spot on the table. "Good morning Keiji, sit down and eat, do you have to go anywhere today?"

"Good morning grandma, yeah I have to go training with my new sensei for the third Chunnin exam." He told her as he put some toast in the toaster oven.

His grandmother viola sighed in her own little way, 'it seems like only yesterday Kaya was taking her exam. She was" a loud cough from behind the newspaper interrupted his grandmother's rants. His small grandma turned around to give the giant behind the paper a disapproving eye; the giant quickly retreated behind the times.

Suddenly the rigidity in the atmosphere took hold of Keiji. His grandmothers' passive aggressive ways took a heavy toll. The toaster oven dinged and Keiji carefully pulled out his toast to not burn his fingers. His grandfather turned to another section of the paper. A cheerful nock came from the door; Keiji took the piece of toast in his teeth to see who it was.

Opening his door, Keiji made a mental note not to drop the toast, Adara. Her hair was down. It took on a darker gleam from the morning sun. She was wearing a navy blue fitted t-shirt with a shallow v-neck. Her khaki shorts when down to her lower thigh right above her knee. The chocker Keiji had made her was on her neck. She smiled at him. "Hey what are you doing here so early?" he asked her.

"Nothing really just wanted to meet Hinata, and well it's not like I'm doing anything."

"Your dad hasn't talked to you about training yet?"

Adara took off her shoes and walked in the house, passing Keiji she shrugged "nah he was really tired last night so I didn't ask."

"I hope he's not expecting you…"

"Prolly not it's not like he really cares."

"Don't say that he does, he's just an important guy." Keiji said wrapping a reassuring arm around her. Adara looked at his arm then quickly to the boy. Before she could make eye contact Keiji pulled away, blushing a little he smiled "I mean whatever's going on at your house you can always stay over here."

"Is Adara finally moving in with us?!" His grandmother yelled from the kitchen.

Keiji's face was practically red. "Grandma!" Adara just chuckled and shook her head.

"No. Grandma Viola just coming over to walk Keiji to training." Adara walked into the kitchen, she glided towards Keiji grandpa and he accepted her peck on the cheek. "Good morning Grandpa Ma Yuri."

"Good morning Adara." He replied in a deep gruff voice as she sat down in her seat.

Keiji's grandmother got her a plate and utensils, "no thank you I already ate."

"Well it can't hurt you to gain a little wait dear," Grandma Viola replied forcing food onto her plate. "I don't see why you don't just stay here, you practically live over here anyway, well you used to, you don't come around so much anymore." His grandmother pouted, as she pecked the top of Adara's head.

"Well I've been training, I'm training I really don't have time like I used to."

"hn same with Keiji, Are you also training today."

"No my dad is too tired to train with me today,"

"Then you can help me clean out the attic, Keiji will be training all day and Yuri's to tall to go up there, I'm afraid this old back isn't as strong as it used to be."

"But just as flexible" his grandfather commented, in reply Viola gave him a playful slap in the arm. Keiji shuddered; his grandfather could be such a pervert sometimes.

They ate together making nice small talk and chatting about odds and ends of the village. Keiji looked at the clock on the wall, "Well if I'm going to be there on time I better get going."

"I'm coming with you, I'll see you later today grandma." Adara said standing up with Keiji.

---m----

Adara walked along in silence with her best friend, he was quieter then he usually was on their walks. She didn't want to interrupt his thought process; she noted with a little joy that he was not counting when he walked anymore. "It seems like only yesterday you stuttered everywhere and had to count when you walked…" Adara smiled.

"Yeah, I was kind of a dork then wasn't I?" He said, there was a little something in the way he said it, it made Adara nervous.

"Yeah you were a dork, kind of creepy too." Keiji's shoulders descended a little. Punching his arm lightly she smiled at him, "But your dorky creepiness together just make you more awesome."

"I never really understood why you hung around me." Keiji admitted, she looked at him. Why was he bringing this up now? Was something wrong? Keiji's hands hung at his side and his posture was slumped just a little, the want to reach out and grab them tingled in her fingertips.

"I don't know either Keiji, but I'm glad I did" Adara let her hand fall by her sides, seeing what his would do, she felt tingles and chills run through her body as both of the arms hung a little too far away from their bodies to be natural, not far enough to touch. What was he going to do? After what seemed like a little more than forever, Keiji stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"We are almost to the picnic tables."

"Ok cool." Adara felt like a fool, why the hell was she getting her hopes up for nothing. Like Keiji ever saw her that way.

---9d----

Keiji looked around anywhere but Adara, he would have held her hand, but she would have rejected him. He shook his head what the hell was he thinking, Adara was well she was…a queazy sensation over took his stomach. What had he just done? He had almost held her hand, she was his best friend, she wasn't looking for a guy like him. They were more like siblings, what he had been thinking was like incest! Where was his new sensei? She said around 8 by the picnic tables. A woman sat there watching the children with a neat picnic basket besides her, she must be a mother out today with her kids.

Looking around once more he didn't see any distinctly Hyuuga person. No person in more traditional clothing standing aside from everybody looking haughty. "Keiji?" a small voice asked from the side looking around he saw the woman with the picnic basket. She had dark midnight blue hair that contrasted with her luminous pale skin. The only thing that told him she was Hyuuga was her pale moon eyes. Unlike Hinabi who had the striking defined features, her whole body was a soft and subtle. She smiled a smile that reached her eyes. Something he never seen Hinabi accomplish.

"yes, um Hyuuga san?"

"You may call me Hinata-Chan Keiji-San," The woman interjected bowing her head in greeting.

"Thank you Hinata-Chan for training me for the third Chunnin exams." Keiji said formally.

"Keiji-San I hope you don't mind I made lunch for us, today will not be a day where we do any real training but," Hinata looked at Adara and had a worried expression on her face. "I'm sorry Adara-Chan I didn't make three lunches, but I'm sure you can have my lunch."

Keiji looked at Adara, How did she know her name? Adara returned his curiosity with a shrug. "Sorry Adara-Chan I didn't mean not to have a proper introduction with you, it's just that Neji and Shikimaru have both talked about you for me to recognize you. I should have introduced myself first, I apologies."

"Oh no problem Hinata-Chan I got to go anyway, I promised to help someone." Adara said waving bye to Keiji before turning to leave.

--- ---fd-----

Max walked behind Zaki as they went to her house. It seemed like forever sense he went there to actually go there. Usually he would just sneak up to her room. All night long Zaki had been unusually silent and complacent, her thoughts hadn't been at the party Allie had thrown for her. She hadn't eaten at all. The girl had just sat around the table silently as the rest of them partied. Her thought had been to this moment.

They were at the door of the old Victorian style house. One of the largest and the crappiest houses in the dregs. The paint chips had been flying off for longer than Allie had been alive. Maybe a hundred years ago it would have been a grand example of a nice rich manor, but it was a shadow of its old self. They were on the front step, it took Zaki a while to get up the courage to nock.

She hit the door as if her fist was spring loaded four solid nocks. "Yeah YEAH, one second."

Max held his breath, his fist clenched automatically. It seemed like everything was going in slow motions. The door opened inward with a surprisingly silent swing. Zaki tensed. There he was that bastard, the regret of not killing him when he had the chance clung to max's heart.

Milton looked stunned a while as he looked at Zaki, he started sweating. "You're dead." Sara appeared in front of him.

"Yeah I am," Sara shouted.

"No I'm not, I'm perfectly alive, and I've been alive for all my life."Zaki proclaimed calmly crossing her arms. Zaki's face was like a stone, Max wondered if that was her shinobi face.

Milton blinked a couple of times, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Where were you?! You never showed up at my funeral, you weren't there when they were doing the autopsy when I was a Jane Doe, YOU NEVER LOOKED FOR ME!" Sara kept screaming at Milton, but he didn't hear her.

"Around, I came back for what's mine." Zaki was ice as she talked to him; there was no emotion in her voice at all.

"I LET YOU INTO MY HUSBANDS HOUSE; I LET YOU EAT HIS FOOD! I TRUSTED YOU; YOU SAID YOU WOULD TAKE CARE OF HER!"

"Look kid, we have nothing in common any more, I'm not going to stop you from getting your stuff make more room for my shit anyway." Milton said trying to be diplomatic moving to the side a little to let Zaki in. Zaki didn't move.

"You misinterpret my statement. I want you out of my house."

"WHEN I LET YOU INTO THIS HOUSE YOU TOLD ME YOU WOULD TAKE CARE OF HER, THAT, THAT IF I MARRIED YOU THAT IF I WAS YOUR WIFE YOU WOULD BE AN AMAZING FATHER, THAT YOU WOULD HELP HER OUT IN HER LIFE LIKE HER REAL FATHER WOULD HAVE. YOU LIED TO ME"

Milton stood up straighter, trying to mask the distress on his face. Then suddenly instead of trying to hide his distress he got angry. "Look her you little whore, I don't know where you've been but you have no right to come here and kick me out of my house." Zaki remained passive, the ghost shrieked.

Sara threw her body to the ground in anger. "YOU TOOK IT; YOU TOOK IT FROM HER, YOU TOOK EVERYTHING!"

"It's my house Milton." Zaki stepped closer to Milton by a foot, the old man blinked a little. He was obviously scared; he looked at Zaki's arm band that marked her as a shinobi.

"I would like to see some lawful proof that your mother left it to you." He spat.

"YOU TOLD ME NOT TO WRITE A WILL, YOU SAID I WOULDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT! YOU SAID YOU KNEW WHAT TO DO, IF HAD, and YOU PROMISED ME!!!" the ghost shrieked at the man, getting no response from the anybody. Sara yelled again trying to get attention from anybody, it was taking all of max's concentration to not start yelling too.

Zaki took another step forward, threw the shrieking banshee, Sara disappeared in a puff of smoke. Drawing a kunai faster than Max had ever seen her move Zaki took another step forward. Seeing the weapon, Milton retreated into the house.

"Yo-you ca-can't threaten me…you hav-ve a code you have to keep to." Milton stammered, as he backed away into the house.

Zaki's eyes remained cold as she stepped through the door way herself, "I haven't threatened you Milton, I haven't said a word, have I Max?" She asked him, Max followed her inside.

"Nope not a single word, she's just practicing with her kunai." He added, Zaki helped with flipping the blade in her hand masterfully. "You see young shinobi do that all around town."

Silence overtook the three, Milton was backed against the far wall, while Zaki stood 7 feet away, and twirling the blade threw her fingers. Max just stood behind her, trying not to attack the pathetic excuses for a man.

"I'm giving you two hours to get out of my house Milton." Zaki turned her back, Max got out of her way. "When I come back anything of yours that is still here will be sold if valuable or burned If not." Her sentence was so definite that Max felt no need to say anything. When they left the house, Max saw Sara on the floor of the porch sniffling softly as she curled up into a fetal position. "You lied to me, you lied."

Zaki strode across the street not looking back at her house,

----9----s----

She couldn't move anymore, her body lay useless on the training ground floor, 3 hours of this and she could no longer move. To blink was causing her pain. Kaida couldn't take it anymore. "I think that's enough physical training for today," If Kaida had the energy to cry she would have. This woman was crazy. The little girl couldn't do it anymore. The woman sighed in impatience. "If you want any type of medical treatment you will get up and walk over to me right now."

Kaida didn't want any treatment; she just wanted to die right there and then, to make the pain stop. But Kaida was not going to give up. She did not want to look weak in front of her temporary sensei. The little red head first clenched her fingers together fallowed by her toes, to test if she could even move them. The pain was sharp at first with the movement but slowly became an aching throb as she persisted in the movements. Moving her arms was another pain altogether, shaking and unsure nerves were the only thing that was constant as she was able to get up on her hand and knees. Kaida looked up at the brown eyed woman looked at her with an impassive stare. As she got to her knees her whole body was shaking. Closing her eyes in concentration Kaida tried to get up after that only for her legs to give out on her. Gasping for breath Kaida tried one more time. Taking deep breaths now to steady herself Kaida decided to try and get up one more time. She managed to stand up all the way before her body began to sway to the left dangerously.

Instead of hitting the dirt like she thought, the little red head was caught by two hands. The girl looked up to see her new sensei holding her under her armpits. The woman smiled at her "Here's lesson number two, never be afraid to ask for help," The woman then laid her on the ground bringing out a medical kit.

"You're a medic?" Kaida asked TenTen, she smiled at the question.

"I used to want to be, for years I wanted to be just like Tsunada, but things changed."

"Like what"

"I found out I was way better at hurting people than bandaging people up, plus the fifth never had time to train with me, she was too busy training Sakura. Any way I'm decent enough to cover most of the battle injuries a person gets." Her sensei explained. After five minutes of silence and TenTen treating her wounds, Though still feeling ache Kaida felt loads better.

"Thank you" She said to the woman, her sensei just smiled.

"Trainings over for the day I'll walk you home now"

--- ------- -----

Yamato walked through the dregs with a little unease as people eyed him suspiciously; Zaki was over an hour late to training. Where was she? Did she forget about training, or was she not coming because of Naruto. He was a nice guy once you got to know him, Yamato would just have to convince her of that in some way. Zaki could be stubborn but this was for her own good. She had the potential of passing this and becoming a Chunnin, she would be a good squad leader in her own right. Yamato turned the corner to the old Victorian. It was really really creepy; the outside looked like it was falling apart with all the chips falling off. Something out of a horror flick.

Yamato took a breath and took a step onto the front porch, he heard a woman weeping, and he didn't see anything. He rapped on the door six times in quick succession. No answer, maybe she was still sleeping, he knocked three more times harder so someone could hear him. No answer again, maybe he could just step in. open the door he was greeted with nothing, but a falling apart hallway. Wall paper falling off wallpaper and a stair leading to the upper levels a roar came from the left. Yamato looked to see an old middle age man packing a suitcase. "Hello?" The man turned around quickly.

"That whore sent you didn't she, to see if I was packing. That little bitch, coming here and telling me what to fucking do, this is my fucking house. That slut can't just come here and tell me what to fucking do." The man said as he packed another thing in the trunk. He was a fat man with over greased hair and dirty clothing. "Well I'm fucking gone, but just because she's fucked you along with everyone else in the government probably."

Yamato was about to say something, who was this man, and who was he talking about? The door opened. "I told you to be out of here by now." It was Zaki, she had a stone look about her, any Hyuuga would be proud of. Yamato looked at her, she glanced at him, for only a second she seemed concerned than before he knew it she was back to stone queen.

"Got him to be your enforcer now, whore!" The man spat at her thrusting her, "Max now not good enough, moving up in the world. Fucking the next dog up on the food chain huh?"

Zaki's eyes blazed at the comment and her blush was barely visible as she tried to come up with a steady retort. "Get out of my house Milton; you've been here for 5 years too long."

"It's my fucking house god dam it!" He yelled in reply, Zaki stood her ground.

"If you're so sure it's your house, why are you packing up?" She asked a haughty air about her. "Shouldn't you stay here and just have called a lawyer or something, or maybe a shinobi?"

"Cause you've prolly slept with them all and wrapped them around your little slutty finger, this guy here just prolly showed up early for the fuck fest."

Balling her hands up Zaki closed her eyes and took a deep breath, without opening them she continued "I'm giving you until 5 to get out of this house, and never come back."

"Or you'll what?"

One long breath, "one"

"You're just a little slutty little bitch that's got nowhere to go in life."

"Two"

"Keep counting, I'm not going anywhere!"

"Three"

The man lifted the suitcase he had been packing, "Throwing me out of here aint going to change thing!"

She took two deep breaths and opened her eyes to glare at the man, who was now moving towards the doorway. "Four"

"Ok I'm out of here, I aint going to stick around for this shit" the door slammed on his way out. Zaki closed her eyes again, as she exhaled a huge breath, then in a flash her eyes shot open towards Yamato.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" She screamed at him. Yamato was taken back from the sudden rage directed towards him.

"I came to see why you didn't show up for training," Yamato replied, his hands up in front of him to show he meant no harm. "Who was that man?"

"NONE of your business!" She snapped again, "Get out of here, I will show up for training tomorrow, I have other things to take care of right now." Anger still rose in her words, but he could see that she was restraining herself, she was treating him like a child.

"Now look here Zakuro I want to know what's going on right now! I am your sensei, and if you are in trouble I have to know."

"I'M FINE, OKEY DOKEY, JUST DIDN'T FEEL LIKE SHOWING UP FOR TRAINING THAT'S ALL!"

"That didn't look like nothing to me Zakuro, what is happening? Let me help you!"

They were circling each other in the living room, he would step somewhat closer to her and she would step the opposite direction. She wouldn't let him get close to her. Her words suddenly became quiet again. "nothing is happening, I'm perfectly fine." Her voice broke a little on the word fine.

"Was that man threatening you?"

"No"

"Then why were you fighting?" He continued trying to

"It's none of your business; it's MY personnel business,"

"As your sensei I need to know what going ON!"

"NO YOU DON'T! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME BEING A SHINOBI"

Yamato stopped to take a long breath, he had never shouted in anger this much in his life, he liked avoiding conflict, but this was unacceptable. "You can't separate the two Zaki, they are imbued together and no matter how hard you try, being a shinobi and your personnel life with always intertwine, you have to learn to treat your shinobi life as your personal life, and your personal life as your shinobi life. If one suffers so do the rest, so YES I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!"

Zaki's eyes were red, he could see she was holding back tears. Taking 5 shaky breaths she looked at him "get out of my house."

"What" Yamato couldn't believe this! "You can't just throw me out for no reason what so ever, I'm not going to leave until you tell me your story."

"I'll press charges, any shinobi who is forcing his way onto somebody else's property is sent to trial, no matter how little the charge. And wouldn't that tarnish your perfect record sensei." She spat the last four words like they were poison.

Closing his eyes to calm himself down Yamato continued in a calm voice. "Zaki I don't want to"

"Get out"

"I just want to"

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE THIS IS THE LAST TIME IM GOING TO ASK!" Yamato couldn't take it anymore, storming passed the girl he hit the road. He didn't have to deal with that shit!

----- dsa------

Adara walked up to the attic of Keiji's house. Grandpa Mayuri was in the garden and apparently Granma had started without her. "I'm in the back dear" The old lady's voice sang. Adara guided hersel**f t**o the sound of scrapping. Sure enough Grandmother was looking threw a box of old photographs. "Look at these! It's been way too long sense I saw any of them." Adara looked at the picture Viola had in her hand.

It was of a girl about Adara's age, Purple hair the same color of Keiji's. grey eyes and a half unsure smile, she had one of her arms crossed over her stomach defensively, besides her were two average looking boys that looked exactly the same. "That's my daughter Kaya." Viola said pointing at the girl, so that was Keiji's mother? Adara had never met her. "This was taken right after her two team mates and she passed the Chunnin exams.

Adara's ears perked up, maybe one of her old team mates could help Keiji out about learning about his mother. "Where are they now?"

"Oh they died about a month after this picture was taken, one of the many tragedies back then. But back then was only filled with tragedies; war has never made good material for comedies. "The old lady waved her hand dismissively. She flipped to another photo in the pile, this one was of the same woman, but she was much older now, and the awkward skinniness of her teens had left. To be replaced with a warm glow and a full belly of a woman in full pregnancy, her smile was an actual smile this time, not an awkward smirk before. But a smile that almost reached her eyes.

"this was about a month or two before Keiji was born, Kaya…The pregnancy was a surprise for us….she was 4 months late for a mission, we couldn't get word along because it was top secret. In those four months I have never seen Mayuri so close to coming out of retirement. He was so worried about her. He never said so much in words, men never do. But I could tell, when she finally came back in…well that condition he couldn't help but be alarmed. Kaya had been his little girl, his little princess growing up. No longer has the little girl that ran into his arms when he got back from a mission, it what made him realized the change in her I guess. It caused such a strong riff between them too. It was a horrible time…Lots of fights and shouting."

Adara's thoughts traveled back to her own father, his gruff scared face always accusing her of doing something, or not doing something, or more often than not ignoring her and concentrating on her older brother. Adara heard a sniffle from behind her, Viola had flipped to another photo. This was of Kaya again with a one year old in her lap. Her purple hair hung over her shoulder in a beautiful cascade as her full face was pointed toward the toddler in her lap. IT was a one year old Keiji and he was about to try and blow out his birthday candles. To their left was Grandma viola clapping and what looked like singing, her hair which was back than a strawberry blond was only starting to turn white. Mayuri was on her right and he was letting the one year old Keiji grab hold of one of his fingers. His face was tilted just enough towards the camera that you could see the smile in his eyes. A wet drop appeared on the photo, Viola quickly wiped it away.

"Silly me, my allergies always come at the worst time, put these pictures away dear as I go downstairs for some ice water as we work." Adara moved to put the pictures they had pulled out away, Grandmother stopped her. "Keep that one out, " she indicated to the last picture, "I don't want to lose it again."

**Sorry it took so long, blame IB lol hope you loved the chapter I know cliché right? But hey that's why it's called fanfiction…**


	32. Secrets

_Allie snuck quietly into her apartment, she had seen her husband go up the stairs from the Zoo, he looked like he was in a bad mood. He had scowled at the drunk she was serving alcohol too, always a bad sign. He was probably sleeping by now; they hardly saw each other anymore. He would get up early to train; she would stay in bed because she didn't get off of work until at least 1am if they closed early. _

_To her surprise the lights where on when she opened the door, looking around she saw Gai sitting at their wimpy kitchen table. He had on his brown tank top that showed off his arms, and his shinobi pants. His hair was long again and in a messy ponytail at the back of his head, he rested his face on his hands. "The table's wobbly again," He told her, in that 'I'm annoyed that this isn't taken care off so I'm telling you' voice. _

"_We can put something underneath it, no problem, what are you doing up, you look tired." _

_Gai grunted in response, and shrugged. "Actually wanted to talk to you for once." Rolling her eyes she thought to herself, 'not this again'. _

_Sighing "we talk Gai were plenty close, now please I'm tired let's go to bed, you have to get up in 4 hours, that's not enough time for you to sleep." She scolded. Gai looked at her, with his eyes, they still seemed to have the same effect on her as they did when she was dating. He got up from the folding chair, coming close to wrap his arms around hair. Allie just smiled into his stinky shirt. It had been a long while since he had held her like this. Resting her head against his chest. "What's up Gai?"_

"_Hm?" He replied smelling her hair. "Just haven't done this in a while." He held her in those muscular arms and Allie felt like the safest girl in the world, she loved that feeling. Finally getting some energy to look up into his face, he was looking down at her, strings of long hair falling in her face. For a moment she forgot her question again. _

"_uh..ok so what's this about?"_

"…_I'm…Leaving for a mission….tomorrow, It'll be a while."_

_Allie pushed herself farther away, a while? "How long is a while?" They broke apart. _

"_Don't be mad, " murmured Gai._

"_I'm not mad? Just curious…that's all," despite her best efforts Allie's voice broke. "How long?"_

"_3 to 5 months." Allie stepped farther away. Three to five months, without him ? He had gone a month before, and that wasn't horrible But five without him._

_Wrapping her arms around herself Allie looked towards the window away from her husband; her voice was unnaturally high "what will you be doing all that time?"_

"_I…"_

"_Can't tell me I KNOW!" _

"_Allie, I don't want to fight…"_

"_WHO's Fighting, I'm not fighting!" _

_Gai came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist lovingly, plopping his chin on her head. "you seem angry…I don't want you to be angry." Gai kissed her lovingly on the neck. _

"_I'm not angry," She shivered in his arms. "I just…" Her throat started closing up as she continued, "Five months?!"_

"_It'll go faster than you think, I'll be home in no time," planting a kiss on the top of her head in affection, "I'll come back don't even worry about that." _

_Allie turned around violently in his arms, "You better! I'll never forgive you if you don't come back" She was crying now, she hadn't wanted too, she just was. _

_Gai sighed being the cool one in the group as always. "It's for you; I'm going for you, to keep you safe, to keep Konoha safe." _

"_Why can't you keep Konoha safe, by staying in Konoha?!" _

"_Please I don't want you to be sad," Gai kissed her in that totally unselfish way he usually did. And Allie melted into him. Oh how she loved him, how he felt so close to her, how his hands trailed everywhere. His hands were strong yet gentle over her yearning body that night. How he looked at her, and touched her oozed of love from him, he never said the word though. He didn't really need to, his eyes spoke for himself. She loved it._

"_I love you Gai." She whispered that morning as they nestled there naked bodies together, finally falling asleep. _

_**RING RING RING RING RING!**_

Allie woke up, in her bed to roll over; the faint outline of a man was imprinted on the other side, but quickly disappeared into her imagination. It had been a long time since she thought of that night. The beginning of the end of her relationship, shaking her head, Allie tried to shake away that memory. It was time for her to get up and get the Zoo ready for the day.

---- ---

Shaking out an old dress, Grandma Viola smiled."I haven't seen this in a long time, ohh it's getting old." The dress was an old white, in its hay day it would have been a very crisp white. The dress had leafy lace over it; the waist was an empire, with a small jewel in the middle of the bosom. The sleeves were very thin a little lacier with the same leafy fabric by the shoulders. It must have been grandmother's wedding dress. Adara couldn't picture her in something so whimsical and leafy.

"It seems very…" Adara.

"Naturey…well I picked it because…it reminded me and I know Yuri of some very …good times we had" That was all Grandma said about the lace, her face formed a mischievous smile of recalling fond memories.

"Well, its beautiful Grandma, I'm sure you were a gorgeous bride." Adara whispered, the dress was stunningly beautiful.

"Of course I was!!!" Grandma snipped. "You want to try it on?"

"What?"

Grandmother Viola smiled deviously "Ohh come on, just try it." And before Adara knew it she was being pulled down stairs.

--- --- ---- ---g----

Yamato slammed the door to his apartment. He didn't know who he was angry at, Zaki, that man, himself? What the hell he wasn't to blame for this?! Was he just wanted to know what was going on with his team! He felt like a fool, whatever was going on in that house; it had to do with Zaki. And it was big and it was something he should know about. He should be her confident. The person she could tell anything to, and she's leading a double life? Was she, or was she just…holding on to something, else. Something different he didn't know.

Or maybe it was nothing! Maybe that was just a tenant living with them, who didn't pay their rent. That is something small and trivial that he could see her not telling him. A very bitter tenant, but yeah it must have been that. If there was anything more, she would have told him, she trusts him? Right? He was going to the kitchen to make some coffee.

As he pillaged threw the draws he heard a knock on the door. Crap probably an order to a mission debreafing, he flung open the door in annoyance "YEAH?!" Oh it was Mosses, "Oh, un sorry I thought you were a mission guy… Come in, I guess I should get used to it, cause were gonna be uh…roomies?"

Moses quirked her eye brow "Bad day?"

"Uhh…Yeah." Yamato let her in and closed the door behind her. "Sorry…" Good god he was an idiot.

"No prob, I wasn't supoused to come back until four any way," She looked at him and raised another eye brow "I thought you were training."

"Uhm, It was cancelled." Yamato said, was he lying or was he telling the truth?

"Oh ok, I just have to get my planner, I thought I had it in my bag

, but I didn't have it." Mosses went to her suitcases in the corner of the living room by her sofa bed. Digging threw her bags she quickly took out a small organizer. The red head quickly flipped through the pages, "Ohhh that makes sense"

"What?"

"I wasn't supposed to have that meeting until tomorrow, Today I don't have one until dinner time." Mosses said more to herself then to Yamato.

"Oh," Yamato didn't know what do, he would usually go out and do errands but he didn't want to be rude.

"Yeah," Moses looked expectantly at him. What was he supposed to do now?

"Wanna, watch a movie?" How lame was he?! Watch a movie! He didn't have any movies; he usually just went to rent them…

Shrugging her arms, "sure, what yah have."

Yamato didn't know what to say "Uhh, do you mind coming with me to do some errands, cause I have other stuff to do around town, then after we can rent movies…they won't take long, or you can go to the video store and get a movie, while I go do my errands, or you can just stay here as I do the errands," Yamato was rambling, he was rambling. "Or we could just rent the movies and I could do the errands later, because you have places to go,"

"No I don't mind we could go do your errands before hand, I just have to get to my meeting by 8:30."

"ok…I just need to get my laundry." Yamato told her pointing towards his bedroom.

"Ok"

"ok"

"Yeah"

"I should go get it" Go d he was such a dork. Finally getting all his stuff together he felt her blue eyes on him.

"Seems like you haven't done laundry in a while…" Moses stated eying his two full laundry bags.

"Yeah… I figured we do this first and then shopping. I brought quarters."

"Lots of quarters I hope"

Holding up a bag full of quarters he shook them.

"Lots of quarters"

"I prepare." Yamato retorted opening the door to the stairwell. "So whats your meeting for?"

"Oh im meeting with the building contractor on the dome were the festival afterwards is going to take place, porta potties and that kind of jazz"

"Sounds like so much fun"

Smiling showing that gap in-between her teeth she scrunched her nose up "Oodles, I don't think anybody's time can be better spent."

"I know right, sewage so much fun to discuss."

"Do you need me to help carry anything?" She asked concerned.

"No, no I'm a pretty tough shinobi I think I can handle two bags of laundry, though it is a difficult mission to undertake. I might have to sacrife my arms."

"Or even worse!The Quarters!!!"

Looking at her very seriously "that's not an option."

"Yes sir! I didn't know it was such a serious matter" she Saluted him.

"It is madam, but don't worry I'll get you home safe!" They joked all the way to the laundry mat.

--- --s----

"Zaki?" Max called out, she had wanted to come alone to get Milton out of the house. Sara was crying as he walked on.

"He must have hurt her in some way, she said she would meet you at your house, but but she's over 30 minutes late, He must have hurt her. Maybe he got his gang buddies and they killed her, what if she's bleeding, MY BABY!!!"

"Shut up woman, your making my head spin, Zaki can take care of herself." Max whispered to the ghost. He had had this for the past hour! Right now he didn't want to deal with Sara, he just wanted to know that Zaki was safe, and ok in every way possible. She should have been back! Why hadn't she come back to his apartment?

He was about a block away from the house, when he saw smoke rising from the back. What was going on? Max started running, his lungs weren't taking him very far though, dam cigarettes. Throwing open the front door, Max tried to remember his way to the back, after a couple failures, He reached a screen door, it was Zaki and she had a bunch of stuff she was burning. Max suddenly didn't know if he was interrupting.

"What is she doing?!" Screeched Sara, "that's my stuff she's burning that's our stuff she's burning, She's burning my bed! STOP HER MAX STOP HER!"

But Max didn't move, he didn't think he wanted to get in the middle of this. Finally Sara got fed up and with all her might she threw opened the screen door. Zaki looked behind her.

"What are you doing here?!" she spat.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Sara screeched "THAT'S OUR STUFF YOUR BURNING."

"I just wanted to see what you were doing, you said you would come back to my apartment after it was done, but you never showed up…so I didn't know if anything happen." Max mumbled, He took a good look at Zaki, she was crying.

"Well Nothing happened!" Her eyes were blood shot as she sniffled this out.

Max reached for her to pull her into a hug she quickly dodged it. "Ok, so nothing happened." He looked over to the pile of stuff she was burning, there were two mattresses on fire with a load of different clothing on them. Most of it was Zaki's. "Where are you going to sleep? Your burning your mattresses."

"On the ground, I'm going to sleep on the ground." Zaki said.

Max bit his lip, "You don't have to sleep on the ground, I could move, my mattress here."

Zaki turned her hazel eyes to him, there was a pain in them, he didn't recognize, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not."

"Cause I want to live by myself for now,"

"but you said…we've always been together"

"Well maybe we shouldn't anymore, we have two different lives now, I can't keep going like this, I mean, they will find out sooner or later I don't know!"

Max wasn't getting what she was saying, who would find out, why were they're lives different? He felt tears coming to his eyes. "I don't think our lives our different, your still the most important thing in mine, that hasn't changed. And what if who finds out, who doesn't all ready know! And what would they find out? What that were best friends, that I,"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THOSE WORDS"

"I don't know what you want me to say Zaki, I'm not letting you live in this dank horrible house by yourself so you can sleep on the floor! And what are you going to wear? I don't know if you noticed but your burning most your clothes, I thought that's what you wanted, to wear your own clothes!" Max was getting irrational he wasn't happy.

"Well I don't want them any more."

"You've seemed to have changed your mind on everything in the past hour! What were you doing this any way, we had it fine with you just living with me! Then you have to start wanting your old stuff back, and I supported you, for what SO YOU COULD BURN IT!"

"THEY SMELL OF HIM, OK I WANT IT BUT I DON'T WANT THAT STINK ON ME, I don't want to be reminded of him anymore, I didn't want anybody to know of him anymore! But I guess that's too late now, because he was there, and so was Yamato and he called me names, and I just stood there and took it and then I yelled at sensei. And now sensei probably never wants to see me again and he's prolly unbearably disappointed because I just stood there…" She was blubbering at this time.

"Zaki…"Max wanted to choose his words carefully, so she wouldn't be upset. "You can't just separate me from your life as a shinobi, and you can't just separate you team mates like that, maybe they need to know these things. They care about you, they want you to do your best, and they aren't going to judge you on what happened in the past."

"They can't know, its none of their business, they don't need to know about any of it." Taking a big sigh, Zaki shuddered "Sometimes it's best if we keep our secrets to ourselves."

-----3 ----

_Allie took a deep breath, and waited on the cold porcelain seat, legs crossed and quietly stomping her foot, stupid pee stick was taking too long. A small knock came from the door, "Has it come yet?" Sara asked her_

"_Nope still nothing." Allie chimed._

"_oh ok," Was the response, really annoyed at this point of the day, Allie scorned herself for telling anybody about this. Especially Sara, But Gai had been gone for nearly a month and a half, who else was Allie supposed to talk to about being late?!_

_Zak, he would have just flipped. Her Aunt, she disapproved at her marrying so young. Not to Gai though, her Aunt loved Gai, just not that fat that she was married to him. She had always scolded Allie, and now well. Allie was only 18 and Pregnant? Not exactly good planning on her part, Nor Gai's but at least she was married. _

_Allie had never wanted so much for her father to be a live again, He had died right before she and Gai got married. He had always liked Gai, had always told Allie that he was a dependable boy. He would know what to tell her right now. He would have made an excellent grandpa. He had made an excellent father. _

_Tears started to stain her eyes, this couldn't be happening, she wasn't ready for a child yet. She wasn't ready, and she had no one to turn to for advice. Looking down to that stupid test she saw what she had dreaded. A little pink plus sign, ready to haunt her. _

_Another bloody knock on the door "Can I come in."_

_Allie wanted to say no, but her mouth betrayed her "Sure." _

_Sara entered the room, skinny and waif like she scratched her arm in nervousness. Gently getting down on her knees to face Allie, she looked at the test. A smile spread across her face as she saw it "Oh Allie, Congratulations."_

"_CONGRATULATIONS!" she spoke in indignation. "I can't have a baby! I'm not cut out for this kind of things."_

_Her skinny waif friend wrapped her boney arms around Allie, "You're going to be a fantastic mother! I mean, and what Guy wouldn't be a better father then Gai. I mean really, you two were meant to be parents." _

_Allie smiled weakly, "You really think that."_

"_I know that! I mean come on you guys can handle anything." Sara assured her. "I don't know why your so worried."_

"_I guess, I guess I just want Gai to be here that's all," _

"_he's coming back, you can tell him, And he'll be even happier than for just seeing you." _

"_You really think that?"_

Allie shook her self out of her dreams. If only things had been that simple.

------s-----

Keiji walked home in a dream, Hinata was amazing. She so understood about everything. She used to stutter too! That's really cool, he felt like he could really trust her. When they had started talking about what was going to come about in the future, she understood him perfectly! He was surprised when she said she had to go for her training with her old team. It was almost 4:00 in the evening!

When Keiji arrived home, his grandfather was in the back tending to some of his gardens. "your Grandma is upstairs with Adara, See if they any help." He ordered gruffly, quickly snipping some unwanted leaves off a plant.

Walking upstairs Keiji hoped that the two would be practically done. He stopped at the door, wondering if he should knock or not, in the end he decided against it. Bobbing his head down to not knock it, he looked up to see beuty.

It was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, he didn't know her, wait it was Adara. His best friend turned around to face him, and time stopped. Her hair was pulled back just a little away from her face, His necklace was rested by her color bone. The dress she wore was beautiful. It was lacey and feminine in a very flowery way, making her look like a wood nymph.

"Hey" He whispered, why did he find it difficult to talk?

A pink blush crossed Adara's face "Hey,"

His grandmother popped into his field of vision, "Hey Keiji come to help us?" She asked a smile dancing across her eyes.

"Uhh yeah, grandma…" Keiji felt his face start blushing too, why was he blushing; he had nothing to blush about!!!

"Doesn't she look beautiful" His grandmother gushed, around Adara fixing a fallen bang, Adara shooed the hand away.

"Grandma, really, I don't feel like myself in this dress, I don't think it's me." Adara said, turning back towards the mirror. "It's too leafy." Adara excused. "Something about it isn't right."

"It's the necklace," Keiji said, the chocker he had made for her was too bulky for the delicate dress.

Adara flipped her hair to take the necklace off.

---- -s----

"Here let me help you" Keiji said in his reach deep voice. Adara's heart was thumping, this was so embarrassing. Adara tried to concentrate with all her strength on her reflection in the mirror, ignoring the boy behind her. She lifted up her hair to give him better access to her neck. The boy leaned down to get the jewelry off her. His hot breath touched her smooth skin and Adara fought harder not to sigh loudly. Why was he so close? For what seemed like forever he unhooked it.

"There you go," He placed the cold stone chocker into her hand. Their eyes met and Adara stopped breathing. Why was he looking at her like that? Why was one of his hands still on her bare shoulder? Why did she not care that it was there? Why was her whole body telling her to step closer?

Breathless Adara finally managed one word "Thanks."

"Now see how the dress looks now." He told her in that unbearably deep voice.

Looking back in the mirror, the dress did look better, or maybe it was just Keiji leaning down for his face to be seen behind her in the mirror. His hands on her bare shoulders, heat emanated from them making her whole body want to flush. What was she supposed to do?

Breaking them out of their silence, Grandmother stepped in. "Now go downstairs Keiji! We are done here and Adara needs to change back into her clothes!"

Turning the brightest shade of red Adara had ever seen Keiji, was flabbergasted at this. "Oo, oh so sorry, um I'll leave now." And he practically ran out of the attic. If Adara kept her secret any longer she would burst!

---k-----

Moses whipped her eyes from some stray tears of laughter, "oh god, You didn't!"

Smilling like a school boy Yamato nodded his head like a fool. "Yeah we did"

"You did not steal the poor man's pants!" Moses cried in indignation, another person in the laundry mat gave the two of them the stink eyes. Lowering her voice Moses kept going. "You got the poor guy drunk than stole his pants!"

"In my defense, the guy was a sleaze bag!"

RING RING, Yamato opened the door to the dryer, it was the last load, thank god! They both reached into the dryer to take out something to fold. It had become routine. Moses pulled out his Tweedy bird boxer"

"Boxers? I would have pegged you as a briefs guy"

"Those are for nostalgia purposes, more than underwear purposes, if you notice." He said holding up another pair of his underwear. "I am a boxer-briefs kind of guy."

Faking surprise Moses covered her mouth with her hand. "How scandalous, not deciding between the two factions!"

"I know, it was a hard decision, but I believe I am a better person for it, I will not be part of that bloody war."

"Yes, the war of underwear, it takes many lives." Moses sighed knowingly. Yamato quickly glanced over to her, and as they exchanged knowing glances both of them burst out laughing.

After the laughter died down a bit, they went quiet, pleasantly folding the laundry with each other. After a couple minutes of talking Moses glanced over at him.

"Why were you so angry before?"

Yamato's smile faded quickly, how did he answer that question? Part of him really wanted to tell someone, the other one didn't want her to look down on him. "Just life I guess." Moses pursed her lips.

"Well that's not very specific, what kind of life troubles. Job, Friendship, Maintenance…Romance?"

Yamato scoffed at the last one, "No I haven't done any of that kind of stuff in a really long time."

Raising her eyebrows Moses looked at him "Really?"

"Why is that so hard to believe, I just really don't have time to go around and go out to clubs and stuff. And plus it's a lot of work to keep a relationship going, especially when I can be gone for 4-5 months a year depending on what missions I get." Yamato put the rest of his laundry in the bag.

"I know what you mean, I try to stay away from romance all the time, and it's too hard when you travel all over the place all the time. But enough about that, you didn't answer my question."

Sighing in relenting "Job/friendship, I don't know just students I guess," Quickly looking at the surprise on Moses' faces "No NO, not Kaida, One of her team mates, Zaki. This morning she didn't show up to training, and well I went to her apartment, and was witness to a, really bad fight with an older man. I don't know what it was about, I don't know who the guy was, but it was…big and instead of explaining it to me. She ordered me out of her house, I left. And I guess I was just wondering what had happened, if it was important. Why she didn't' tell me if she was having trouble, am I unapproachable? Is it even my business, I mean what kind of relationship am I supposed to have with her? A student yes, so should I keep it professional? URR" Yamato finally realized he was talking out loud. "That prolly sounded pretty stupid"

"No not really, I would be angry too,"

"I just, don't…don't know why she has to keep it a secret."

"Some people feel that they are better of if they shoulder all the responsibilities.

------3-----

_Allie was about 3 and half months pregnant, she hadn't started showing yet. So far she really didn't like this baby at all, all it did was make her want to puke all the times, and gave her some of the worst cravings ever! She was walking home from the grocery store at around 11, she was off tonight thank god! She really didn't feel like dealing with drunk tonight. Quickly dodging into a short cut ally, she set off briskly for her home. _

_Her thoughts traveled to how she was going to tell Gai. Well by the time he got home, she would probably be showing all ready; she would just need to see him. But she wanted to tell him before; somehow, maybe she could set up a curtain in the middle of their apartment, and first tell him, then let him see her. But knowing how he could be after missions he would probably just rip the curtain off and then start at her. _

_Allie had to suppress a moan, after mission sex was always the best! Wait, a thought popped into her head 'was she aloud to have sex?' She must call her doctor right away! What was she going to eat tonight? The fried chicken she got, or maybe she could sauté some onions and garlic, and mushrooms. Mushrooms, Turning around back into the ally, Allie decided to march right back to the grocer and get mushrooms. _

_In the familure darkness Allie felt nothing. Until somebody grabbed her from behind. Allie struggled in an attempt to get out. "Now now honey, don't be struggling, I'm just going to show you a good time." The rough voice behind her stunk of Alcohol, a rough hand covered her mouth. The other traveled to her inner thigh. She elbowed the man in the stomach. Nothing happened. She tried again, the man pushed her back closer to his chest. "Sugar plum, don't struggle, you won't like what happens if you struggle. _

_Finally managing to open her mouth she bit his fingers. The man slammed her into the brick wall of the ally. And before she could get up, he was on top of her. And had a Kunai pulled out at her throat. "Scream and I'll kill you." He threatened. Gathering up the saliva in her mouth she spat in his eyes. _

_Her face stung as an open palm slapped her. She tried to use her free hand to push him away, but couldn't. He grabed her free hand and put it above her head with the other being held down with his left hand. Allie tried to buck her hips up, anything to get out of this situation. "mmm, keep doing that," He growled. _

"_Let go of me!" She tried to yell, she felt so helpless. The man nipped at her neck drawing blood. Her chest felt uncomfortably bare, he had sliced it off with his kunai. "Urgh there even bigger then I thought." He moaned in her ear. _

"_Get off of me!!" She breathed. _

"_But you don't want me to do that! Babe!" He snarled pushing himself closer to her. He broke her bra off. And started biting and scratching her skin with his teeth. _

_Finally she managed to slip one of her hands free, pushing him away from herself, feebly. The man closed his eyes when she tried to scratch his eyes out, opening them again, her fear doubled ten times. They were red eyes, the sharingon. She couldn't do anything to him now. He was untouchable. The man smirked, leaning closer to let her see him, in a horrible light. "You know the pickle you are in, little missy." There really was nothing she could do, closing her eyes, she tried not to scream. _

_When it was all over the man snarled at her, and used the kunai to stab her in the stomach, then slit her wrist, Allie wasn't sure what happened, next, her eyes were too busy watering before being knocked out. _

Allie shook her head violently, she had promised never to think about that night ever again. Why was she so week? Her tears were quickly wiped away by her tears on the fake varnish polyester counter.

_She was surrounded by a white room, in an uncomfortable cot. Looking around she saw a window, then to her left was a curtain. Instruments all over, a heart monitor was beeping steadily. "Hey," A voice said, she looked up to see Sara. The brunettes' hazel eyes looked scared and hallowed. "You're awake."_

_Allie looked around, she didn't know what to say, "yeah, I am."_

"_I'll go get a doctor, Zak should be here any minuet he went to go get both of us coffee." Sara was rushing trying not to look her in the eye, something was wrong. _

"_How long was I out?" _

"_3 day. The old grocer found you and brought you here, he told us only after he was sure they were taking care of you." _

"_Yeah, he's a nice man, I'll make sure to send him a card." Allie said, her mouth was speaking for her brain at the moment. _

_Sara hid her face in that long straggly hair, "I'll get a doctor now." Then she scurried out of the room. _

_What had she let happen to her? She wasn't some victim that let this kind of stuff happen to her! She was strong, everybody said that, strong people don't let themselves get into that situations. Aperantly she wasn't strong as she thought. _

_The curtained opened up again, it was Zak. His grey hair was in that bed headed mess he wore so well. The smirk crossed his face. His blue green eyes looked sad. "Hey Al, glad you are awake." She didn't respond, pulling up a chair Zak tried to grab her hand, she flinched away. "Who did it?" He finally asked. _

_Allie tried to smile but it hurt her face too much, "I can't tell you."_

"_Did you see his face?!" _

"…_yes…" she whispered, closing her eyes trying to stop from crying again. _

"_then if they police caught him," Allie snorted before he could even finished his sentence. "…It was an Uchiha wasn't it, that's why you can't tell me." She didn't need to respond. Zak was quiet for a moment, and then all of a sudden he jumped up and smashed his hand against the stone wall. His knuckles started bleeding. "GOD FUCK THEM, they think they can get away with anything! "_

_Finally finding her voice Allie looked at Zak, "Who's going to stop them? They are the police, if any of us report who did this, all the file will be pushed under a desk, nothing will happen. There are no none Uchiha's on the police force. They care about their clan more then they care about any other people in Konoha."_

"_We don't have to do it the proper way, Gai and I could find him, and we could."_

"_GAI IS NOT TO KNOW ABOUT THIS! None of it, do you understand me!" Allie couldn't have Gai know, she just couldn't she wouldn't have been his anymore. He would look at her differently, he wouldn't accept it. "I don't want him to know about this little incident, we are just going to go on pretending with our lives!"_

"_And the baby? Is he not to know about what happened to his kid?" _

_Allie's felt her heart sink, "What do you mean, what happened? The kid is still coming!" Desperately she tried to look in his eyes, but Zak turned away. The kid had to be all right, she had been stabbed but it was the stomach not the, the uterus, the baby should have been fine. "Nothing should have happened to it, in the movies and books and stuff when this happens, the baby always pulls threw, what do you mean what happened! NOTHING HAPPENED!" She screamed. Taking the closest thing to her she threw it at Zak. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT; I DON'T WANT TO SPEAK WITH YOU ANYMORE!" _

_Zak just looked at her, with the saddest eyes she had ever seen, "It's gone Al, the kid, the doctors tried to save it, but it was in such an early stage of development, it couldn't have pulled threw. If you would have been 5 or 6 months pregnant it would have had a chance," _

_Allie wasn't going to listen to this, she couldn't have failed Gai this much. It was bad enough she had let another man touch her like that, but to lose his child, her child, their own baby. It was supposed to be beautiful. She wanted it back so bad now, she wanted to see Gai's face when he realized he was a daddy, she wanted to be able to …Allie wasn't trying to hold back tears any more. _

"_He's still not to know of it" She whispered as she crossed her arms over herself to keep from shaking. "Something are just better off if they are kept a secret." _


	33. Delay

**ATTENTION ATTENTION!!! **

**It is going to be another long while before I will be publishing the next chapter, I was almost done with it, and then my house received massive water damage and my lab top was one of its casualties :S I apologise again, the guys are going to see if they can get my desktop back but not sure…So I might have to start the chapter from scratch…SORRY**

**Extra Type**


	34. misunderstood and out of control

**Hey guys, sorry school has kind of been a bitch and has sucked out all my creative juices, I'm trying to get the ball rolling again, but first, I'm always trying to get more readers and more critiques of this story, so I thought I might maybe put something in the genre section, maybe friendship/mystery? Irk tell me some of your thoughts on it, Thanks for all of you who have taken time to review. OOO and one of my friends read my story and drew me a picture of Zaki, Kaida and Keiji, I might put it on my profile if you are interested. **

Adara got home from Keiji's around 7 just after dinner had finished in her house. She really didn't mind she had eaten with the Keitarus. Trying to avoid her parents would be too much work it would just be easier to go to the front door. As she opened the door she heard her mother yell "Adara, is that you?"

Rolling her eyes and taking of her shoes Adara tried not to sound sarcastic "Yeah"

"Come in here your father needs to talk to you." Adara huffed, she hadn't had a nice 'talk' with her father sense she was 10. He had no idea who or what she was anymore. And he didn't care to even learn.

Her father sat at his seat in the dinner table his dinner was done and he had his face down towards the counter, from this angle she could only see the side of the face he had his scars on. The veins around them that were usually a red were turning blue, ooo he was mad. Her mother sat to her father's right facing the door Adara was coming through. This means he was really mad; Mom usually didn't stay for lectures of dad, only when she felt things might get out of hand.

"Sit down." Her father ordered, veins turning a little purple. Adara sat in her seat across from her mother. She tried to read Yoshino's face to see what she thought, but her mother looked away before Adara could process. "Where were you today?" Her father asked.

Adara tried not to roll her eyes, it would just make things worse, and "Keiji's" she felt that no other explanation was needed.

"Why?" Her father's grip on his chopsticks tightened.

"I told his grandparents I would help them around the house." Ok, so that's not originally why she went over there, but they didn't have to know that.

"You know where you were supposed to be?" That was a trick question Adara wasn't going to answer that.

Her mother's voice came in through the blanket of tension in the room "It was just a misunderstanding in communication Shikaku, there's no reason to be mad." Yoshino never used that voice unless she felt that things had already gotten out of hand. Adara took a deep breath, he was mad at her for not telling him where she was? Like he ever cared! Her father also took a deep breath.

"We were supposed to be training today."

Adara tried to sound apologetic but she couldn't keep the anger out of her voice. "I have 29 more days until the exam dad; we can make it up tomorrow."

Her father clenched his fist, he hadn't looked up at her once, "That's exactly the type of attitude you cannot have! You can't just waste away your days because you feel like you should be hanging out with that boy."

"What boy dad...Keiji! Keiji wasn't even there I was helping his grandmother clean out her attic! That's what I was doing; this had nothing to do with Keiji."

"You should have been training; it's disrespectful for me as a father and as a sensei for you not to show up!" Adara snorted at this comment. "WHAT WAS THAT young lady?" Her mother gave her a look warning her not to do anything rash, but Adara was not going to take this.

"Double standard much."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if I skip a day of training; to go help somebody out, that means I'm disrespectful, but if Shikimaru skips a day to go look at his GOD DAMM clouds it's ok, he doesn't have a talking to or get accused of being disrespectful."

Her father was officially yelling at her now "SHIKIMARU is not the subject of discussion here."

"SO I CAN'T POINT OUT THE FACT THAT YOU'RE BEING A HYPOCRITE?"

"ADARA!" her mother gasped. Adara rolled her eyes at her mother, what was she supposed to do just sit there and take this hypocrisy.

"DON'T YOU ROLL YOUR EYES AT YOUR MOTHER, OR I'LL…"

"OR YOU'LL WHAT DAD?"

"NARA ADARA DO NOT MAKE ME GROUND YOU!" her father warned, but it was too late for Adara to head the warning.

"GROUND ME FOR WHAT DAD, POINTING OUT THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE TWO DIFFERENT STANDARDS FOR YOUR TWO CHILDREN."

"FOR THE LAST TIME ADARA THIS IS NOT ABOUT SHIKIMARU."

"I fail to see how he can be avoided dad, he CONSTANTLY SKIPS OUT ON TRAINING, AND YOU DO NOTHING. BUT IF I SKIP OUT FOR ONLY ONE DAY YOU ACT AS THOUGH I WAS SELLING DRUGS OR SOMETHING!"

Her father's face was red and his eyes were closed with anger, he banged his fist on the table. "IT'S DIFFERENT WITH SHIKIMARU, ADARA. HE CAN CATCH ON TO THIINGS QUICKER, HES GOING TO BE THE FUTURE HEAD OF THE NARA CLAN, HE HAS CERTAIN RIGHTS. I DON'T WANT YOU CHEATING YOURSELF FROM BECOMING A CHUNNIN, I WANT YOU TO BE PRACTICING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, AND YOU NEED TO TRAIN!"

"Shikaku!" her mother whispered. Silence filled the room, Adara now truly knew what her father thought of her, and it hurt. She felt his eyes look for her face, turning away from the stranger so he wouldn't see her cry. Adara felt so alienated, she felt so alone. Adara opened her mouth to say something but the words were stuck. She wanted to say something mean, something that made her sound strong. Adara looked at her mother, and tried to read if she believed what he had just said. Yoshino was looking at her husband in disbelief, and something of horror.

Adara's body wouldn't stay still any longer; she stood up and ran up the stairs, throwing herself into her room like a bomb was about to go off, Adara slammed the door.

---------g------

Yoshino sat their looking at her husband. She hadn't understood how Shikaku had looked at women; she had always known he was chivalrous but…to tell Adara that to her face. Yoshino found herself getting up from her chair, standing behind it she stared at her husband's stooped form. He was breathing heavily his face had turned its normal color. His brown eyes that their son had inherited looked at her. Yoshino just stood there looking at him. She waited for an explanation. Shikaku was busy mulling over what had just happened, it would take him a while to figure out he was an ass whole and apologies to his daughter, and Yoshino had other things to do. Heading towards the hallway, she saw Shikimaru her eldest.

Shikimaru looked at her weird when she opened the hallway closet. "What you getting out mom?" He asked.

"Sheets for the guest room." Yoshino replied, Shikimaru groaned, he hated having guest in the house, "Stop groaning, they're for your father." She closed the door and stared at her son. He was almost the spitting image of Shikaku; nobody could accuse Yoshino for cheating on Shikaku. Shikimaru's face became expressionless as he looked his mother in the eye. Worry crossed his eyes, without seeping on to his face; opening his mouth to ask the big question, Yoshino shot him a glare.

Closing his mouth then he opened it again "…is there any left over's?"

"In the fridge." Shikimaru exited the hall and entered the kitchen; his father was there at the table looking concerned. "She's getting the guest room ready isn't she?" He asked Shikimaru.

"Yup"

"Hn" Silence fell as Shikimaru fixed himself some supper, there were two left over plates ready, Adara must not have come home yet. "I really stuck my foot in my mouth this time."

Shikimaru rolled the rice in his mouth a couple times around "Well" he gulped down the food, "I guess the best way to deal with that is un-stick it." His father shot him a glare and Shikimaru picked up his plate of food and headed towards the living room.

"Shikimaru Nara!" his mother's voice shouted from the hall, "You better not are going to eat in the living room!" It warned; His head fell in defeat as he walked back into the kitchen.

---s-----

Kaida laid in bed aching all over, her mother fretted over her like a nervous hen. While mumbling darkly her mother got her some water from the kitchen. "I don't think you should go to training tomorrow honey, your still recovering." Her mother told her as she handed Kaida the glass of water.

Kaida tried not to roll her eyes "mom, I have to go to training tomorrow, I feel that I'm going to learn a lot from TenTen Sensei."

Kaida looked at her mother's grass green eyes, they looked worried. "Kaida, you're still young, you haven't even hit your last growth spurt yet, your body is still trying to grow, and it's not healthy for you to train like this every day."

"I don't know if it's going to be training like this every day." Kaida mumbled.

"I still don't like it, drink up that water, and I'm going to get you some ice."

----w-----

Dinner had been a daze to Keiji, he found it hard to look at Adara like normal, in some way shape or form the light hit her odd angle's making him…well it wasn't anything. Stripping down to boxers he looked at his body in the mirror, he had to crouch so the mirror would look at his whole frame. He was ok looking, nothing extraordinary, besides his height nothing stood out to him. His hair was purple that was somewhat odd, but there were people with odder colors then that out there. His mother's hair had been this color, and before it turned grey grandfather's hair was this color too. His eyes were yellow, people had yellow eyes all the time, it wasn't as odd as most people thought. Though none of his relatives had eyes like his, there's been grey-green dark. His eyes were just disturbingly bright and yellow.

His body was too broad for a shinobi; it was hard sneaking around with something so massive to carry around. His grandfather wasn't as broad as him; the old man was actually quite lanky. His mother had been extremely slender; did that mean that most of his attributes were from his father? And his father looked like what? A murderer? A monster a maniac or something else entirely. This man was in Orochimaru's lab, He was an experiment maybe was he dead, maybe he was sickly…what if he didn't even look human?

Something could be wrong with Keiji and he never even knew it. Never even know why, anger filled in his blood as he thought about his situation more. It wasn't fair! His head quickly got the better of him. No no his life wasn't as bad as he thought it was. He had a grandmother that loved him, and a grandfather that…wouldn't train with him. He wasn't ready yet, but he wanted to be ready to train with his grandfather, before he couldn't teach him anymore. Keiji slipped on a white wife beater. Sensing his growing chakra level at his unknown frustration he breathed in a deep breath from his diaphragm. Closing his eyes he started counting, he hadn't had to do this in a long time, count like this.

12345678910

He took another breath

12345678910

He took another deep breath and tried to wipe his mind clean.

12345678910

He had thought that he didn't need to do this anymore

12345678910

He wasn't going to get anywhere if he couldn't control himself

12345678910

All the work he had done had been for nothing

12345678910

Why was he so angry?

12345678910

Because he didn't understand why people can just be so stupid as to have a meaningless child?

12345678910

Because the more he thought of his mother's report and what she used to say to him about his father…

12345678910

One of those things must have been lying

12345678910

And shinobi's don't lie during important missions reports

12345678910

That means his mother was lying to him

12345678910

And that made him angry

1234678910

And now he had to count again to control himself

12345678910

That made him angrier

123456…

With force he didn't know he had Keiji struck his shelves it shattered into pieces, He heard his grandmother's voice from downstairs "WHAT WAS THAT? KEIJI!!!"

Not wanting to deal with anything now Keiji opened his window and left.

----w-----w---

Yamato sat down and made himself comfortable on the couch, Mosses was on the other side of the couch, the middle cushion was vacant of any type of body part. IT was still kind of awkward for him, to have let a stranger live in his house so suddenly. It was a brash move; he didn't know what overtook him when he asked her. Now he was sitting here on his couch, and she was also on the couch and they were watching, Thank You for Smoking (**recommend this movie to anyone!**) They had popped a bowl of popcorn and reheated some stale coffee.

"_You know that guy that can pick up any girl well I'm him…on crack" _

The movie went on as they silently sat there and watched it…as the movie ended. It seemed nice to just sit down with somebody in silence. Yamato always felt like he needed to keep the conversation going at all times. OR be considered boring, but for some reason her manner made it easy for him to be silent. She then looked at her watch.

'Shit'

"What?" Yamato asked her as he went to take the movie out of the player.

Mosses quickly stood up and started to her suitcase, "My meetings in 15 minuet's"

"Where is your meeting?"

"The BBQ restaurant!" She said as she looked around hastily at him.

"The bathrooms through my room use that to change."

"Thanks!"

After waiting only five minutes, Mosses came out her hair down, and in a loose fitting business suit. He looked at the clock she only had 10 minutes to get to the meeting on time. Yamato looked at her and then closed his eyes; he can't believe he was doing this.

"I can get you there how do you like being carried?" Yamato asked. Moses blinked at him, and a slight blush came to her freckled face.

"I'm not sure I get what you're asking."

Finding himself blushing too Yamato tried not to stutter. "Fireman or Piggy back, then I can run you on the tops of buildings and get you there in time,"

She was totally blushing now, "I'm sorry Yamato san for my trouble, and I guess what is ever is best for you"

Picking her up fireman style Yamato sprinted out the window onto the neighboring rooftop. The BBQ restaurant was only on 43rd street his apartment was on the 20th that wasn't that far.

Her slim arms were wrapped around his neck hanging on with little pressure and a lot of trust. Her head was folded into the nape of her neck and he could smell the warm orange blossom whiff of her hair. The texture of her hair was like a horse main after it had just been brushed. Before he knew it he was in the alley right to the left of the restaurant setting her down. Yamato's heart was beating, and it wasn't because of the run. He slowly let her don from his arms, but his head had to command his limbs to separate from hers. Yamato felt like such a creeper, he barely knew this woman, she was a stranger and yet he couldn't help but feel unnaturally attracted to her. After she padded off some of the dust from her outfit she turned to Yamato and smiled. That beautiful gape toothy grin.

"Thanks um so yeah, uh I got to go, but …thank….you"

"Uhh no problem, do you want me to stay…and walk you home or you can get their by yourself."

"No I can get their by myself, but thank you…I have to leave."

------s0-0---------

Adara was out of the house as soon as she heard her mother go to bed. She hadn't heard her father go upstairs; she didn't hear him go out either, so that must mean he was sleeping in the guest room. Good! There was a sick satisfied feeling in her gut. She shouldn't be this happy that her parents are fighting. There were two types of fights in the Nara house, the one's where her mother and father shouted at each other until they were horse, and then her father would call Shikimaru and her to come downstairs. He then would instruct Shikimaru to take Adara to a movie or the play ground until dark. Adara shuddered to think what they were doing while she and her brother were gone. But she always preferred those type of fights compared to when they didn't yell at all and they just avoided each other. The longest they went without speaking was the month after Shikimaru's first failed mission.

She was the closest to her brother then that mission…it made him seem. Human. Before then he was her perfect older brother, which she had admired and adored. She had worshiped the ground Shikimaru walked on. And yet back then her jealousy couldn't have been higher. Today she really didn't want to be better then Shikimaru. She just wanted to be recognized as his equal, that she was different. She just didn't want to be looked down on. When people thought of her, they shouldn't just think Shikimaru's little sister. They would think of a single konoichi who was proud and dignified. Back then she wanted to be Shikimaru. Everything he did, even though he just told her she was being troublesome. And that she was a nuisance and to leave him alone.

But after that mission, where Chouji almost died. NO it wasn't then when she started really seeing him it was after the chunnin exams, he had given up.

_Her small body raced upstairs, she had just gotten home from those stupid safe houses. She didn't understand why she couldn't help out. Her mother was behind her she had taken Adara out of the safe houses. The little girl took off her shoes than ran all the way upstairs, to her room. "What are you doing?!" Her mother scolded. _

"_I'm going upstairs to make sure none of those stupid sound people took my stuff!!!" She shouted downstairs. Now looking back that was a stupid thing to worry about, but she had just gotten a new kunai set that she thought was the best thing since sliced bread. After making sure everything was there she stomped downstairs. Her mother was on the phone talking to some body from work, or maybe it was one of her aunts, she wasn't really paying attention."Is dad home yet?"_

"_No…not yet honey, neither is your brother…" _

"_They better get back soon." Adara sighed. The door opened and she heard her father step in. Adara ran and tackled her father's legs._

"_Wooow slow down their Addy-baby. I'm Ok," His strong arms lifted her up with seemingly more effort than it actually required. "Wow Addy how did you get so big?" She leaned and kissed her dad on the cheek. Her dad rubbed his whiskers on her cheek, and made her giggle. _

"_I'm going to be as tall as you are one day you know," She told him. Closing his mouth he blew up his upper lip and upper cheeks, while Adara grabbed and pulled out his ears. "You look like a monkey" _

"_Shikaku, where's Shikimaru?" Her mother's voice cut in. Her father kissed her on her forehead and put her down. "He's on a mission"_

"_What?"_

"_Kakashi appointed him to lead a squad"_

_Her mother blinked a few times, "of what Shikaku?"_

"_I don't know"_

"_YOU don't know…"_

"_NO I don't"_

"_And WHY was Kakashi appointing him to this mission"_

"_I'm not sure of the circumstances" Shikaku's voice was weary and slightly on edge. Adara didn't know who to side with, so she sided with her father, because she never saw him enough. Of course that meant just clinging to his leg. He was tensing at his wife's question. _

"_O, you're NOT sure, you just don't KNOW!"_

"_Yoshino, I was doing MY work, I don't know what was happening where Shikimaru was!"_

"_You didn't bother seeing where he was?"_

"_I was only informed by Kakashi that he went out of Konoha for an immediate mission."_

"_What do you mean An immediate mission?"_

"_I don't know, Yoshino"_

"_You don't know or you …can't tell me?"_

"_I actually don't know," _

_Adara could feel the tension building. She clung tighter to her father's leg. "If he's leading a mission does that mean he made Chunnin?" It seemed like an appropriate placed question. She was still mad at her parents for not excusing her to see Shikimaru at the third chunnin exams, But her mother went. "How did he do by the way?!" _

"_How did he do Yoshino, because I wasn't there where he was, YOU were"_

_Her mother shot her father daggers, " I was put to sleep, then I woke up in one of our safe houses surrounded by Jounins saying we were being attacked, I look for Shikimaru in the crowd but he wasn't there…" _

_Adara rolled her eyes, "But how did he do? Before the whole, invasion thing you know?"_

"_He gave up."_

"_What!" It was Adara who was angry now. "like, like how, gave up? Like gave up cause the guy was super duper better than him, Or gave up cause cause it was friend or gave up cause…"_

"_It's really not that important right now Adara." Her mother scolded softly. The older woman looked at her husband. "You really don't know when he's going to be back?"_

"_No." _

_Looking up at her mother, Adara saw Yoshino's bottom lip being bitten. "Who else went on the mission?"_

"_I don't know, I think it was team 7" _

_Adara could feel her throat getting dry and something was forming at her eyelids. She was so upset, Shikimaru gave up? She had made him promise to try his best. She had asked him that morning if he was excited. He had said no then she made him promise to try his best and he said that he would! He never broke his promises to her before; he always kept his promises to her. _

_Adara bit her lip and let her parents finish discussing the invasion. _

Zaki was alone on her floor a couple old blankets covering her, she wasn't sleeping. She laid on the rickety ground and closed her eyes. Something was missing, other people in the house? The blare of the T.V? Her coaxing herself to stay in case something happened between Sara and Milton? That feeling of dread?

No that dread was still there, lurking and eating at her stomach. Always and forever, maybe it was just this house, not the stuff in it, but everything else. The floor. The ceiling, everything in it had been tainted. Something was wrong! And Zaki couldn't fix it. Something needed to be there.

Getting up and going to the closet of the clothes she hadn't destroyed, most of those left had been her mothers. She took down her mother's red sweater; it smelled of THC, all of her mother's clothes smelled of marijuana! It's a good thing she didn't burn them or the neighborhood would have had a contact high. She decided to go to the laundry mat; it was opened 24 hours a day. First she would go to the market and get some laundry detergent.

She was dressed in her…max's pajamas but nobody would care, it was 11'oclock at night anyway. Getting a trash bag out of the cupboard she stuffed all her clothes into it. Time to go out. She used to be afraid of the dark, but now it's something she just accepted. Darkness is something everyone has to accept, nobody can stay in the light forever.

Getting to the store was easy. Getting the detergent was easy to do; she had to go around a couple isles so she avoided other people at the market. But it wasn't that hard. It was now time to the laundry mat, she could head straight to the laundry mat if she took the three alley section, or she could go the long way and keep to the main roads. She started along the main roads but stopped. At the corner was Jr. with tank and a couple others of his close cronies. They were waiting for something. As she saw three anbu pop out of nowhere she knew what it was. Roots were Jr's supplier for all of the big drugs. She didn't understand the whole process, about why or how, but she understood that she couldn't be seen by those roots. Zaki headed into the alley.

---------e-----

Kin looked at her daughter sleeping on their bed so worn out and tired and closed her eyes. Things had changed so much since she had met Lido. She remembered when she was Kaida's age. The only thing she worried about was that her dolls were in the right place and her father was impressed with her improvement in all her studies. Which included, sewing, proper table etiquette, proper party etiquette, proper estate dinner etiquette, knitting, reading, writing, and speech. She didn't hate it back then, she never really hated it. She loved the way it made her father beam at her in admiration when she would be successful in a subject. But she never cared about why she was doing it. She cared more about going outside and playing with the other children. She wanted to fit in so bad. And she loved going to the market with her Nanny during her breaks in the day. To see the people of Suna bustling around selling anything and everything.

Kin missed Suna, the sun on the dessert as it came up from the east. Was her favorite site each morning? She missed the smell of the cactus plant in bloom, and the hot heat on her skin. Her daughter never really had that chance. She was brilliant since she could walk; understanding most things the average 20 year old didn't fully comprehend. When she was 4 she shifted into the Mitsu clan, rock…thing and it was the scariest thing she had ever seen. Her little princess in a huge rock monster form, not what she was expecting. That's when they had contacted mosses and the cousin started training with her 1 a week then 2 a week, maybe a whole week if mosses had to deliver a message to another town with a Mitsu person in it. Mosses loved traveling, she wasn't an excellent teacher, but Kaida was an excellent student. Kaida was the one who pursued the shinobi thing, she wanted always to learn more, and harder jutsu's, she would go to the library and look up jutsu's that she would need to pass for the gennin exam. The only thing that reminded Kin that her little darling was still a child was Yo. That beautiful little teddy bear that had been Kaida's favorite friend and only friend for all her stolen years of child hood. Kin found tears fall from her eyes, her little girl kept on pushing herself and pushing herself, and she couldn't do anything to comfort her. That horrible new sensei beat her up…FOR WHAT PURPOSE? She had thought that once Kaida was a gennin she would wait at least 4 years till taking the exams. 12 was still an early age to take it! She was only 8 for Kami's sake! She hadn't even met the new sensei! That woman hadn't even introduced herself. Whipping away her tears for a second Kin had to remind herself that Kaida had been so happy and driven. As a parent Kin had to keep her daughter safe and hopefully happy. But what if the two didn't coincide? Being a shinobi made Kaida happy, but it certainly didn't make her safe.

Taking a sigh the mother went into the kitchen/living room/ Lido's office. Her husband had stopped scribbling franticly on that stupid translation. His head was bowed and his hands were running through his lovely red locks. "Honey, do you need some tea?" the abrupt way he turned around startled her.

His blue eyes were blood shot and he looked slightly crazed, "sorry my love, I was thinking."

Kin walked over and put her hands lovingly over his shoulders. He was shaking uncontrollably. "You should stop and take a break if it's frustrating you this much" Lido's hands found Kinds and squeezed them.

"I'm finished" his eyes turned to Kinds again and she realized he wasn't frustrated, he was scared. "I don't know, If I SHOULD tells them that though."

Biting her lip kin hugged her husband. "Come to bed dear, sleep on it, tonight your too worked up." Finally turning fully towards her, Lido planted a soft kiss on her neck. Then with the affection he loved her for so much, he held her hands and kissed them.

"My angel, what would I ever do without you?" her husband asked her, there was so much compassion and belief to his words. Lido might not have been the strongest or smartest man, but he had something none of her other suitors had when she was younger. He was totally sincere everything he did was because he believed in it. "I love you Kin"

"I love you too Lido, don't worry we will think of something."

-----s-----

Max was heading away from his apartment; Zaki was not the only one who could change. And it was time for max to change; he needed to move on too. Well, never move on never from Zaki, always Zaki only Zaki. But maybe in other places of his life he could move on. He would actually have to pay rent this month; he usually dodged that by doing odd jobs anywhere and every wear. Hey he had even slept with a couple women for food money before. But he couldn't face Zaki after that for days. So it was back to odd jobs with whatever needed to be loaded off of trucks, or whatever. Jr usually had a job for him to do, Max was an amazing distraction for lots of stuff Jr does. He headed towards the den, where Jr had all his dealings. It was about a block away from the Zoo. Allie had an agreement with Jr. when it came to serving alcohol at the Den. 40% of all the alcohol cash went to her.

The den was dark and dreary and everything stunk of pot. He looked around Jr was in the far corner surrounded by two, young looking girls that max didn't recognize. They were really young to be here. Sodo was around him too looked like he had just taken a hit. "Hey man!"the junkie shouted bounding over to max. "What you doing here on this fine night?"

Max waved of his friend, "Not now Sodo, really here to talk to jr."

Jr was a little too busy looking at one of the girls; Max didn't want to know where her hands were at that moment. The other girl who clearly felt the need to outdo the other vanished under the table, Jr's eyes closed intently. "JR!" Sodo shouted, the leader opened an eye to glare. "Max wants to talk to you" Sodo mumbled, running his hands through his dark blue hair.

The gang leader raised his finger and signaled max to come closer. "What you need max?"

"A job"

"can't you just get some of your, ahhhh" Jr heads tilted back he was obviously suppressing a moan " your lady friends to donate to your fund."

"I'm not doing that anymore! Like I want a job, job security, hourly wages the whole thing."

The gang leader looked at Max in surprise, "what makes you think I can do that?"

Max had known Jr sense the street, he would hook him up with some sort of job. "well you've never failed me before"

Sodo smiled at Max, "Jr we can give him the uh, ball job, with me and the gang you know? That one its pretty steady monthly shit,"

"HE would be unnecessary excess. And any way next time you'll be using just you"

Sodo looked away from his boss. "that was a onetime thing I don't know if I can do that again"

Jr suddenly turned violent grabbing Sodo's hair and banged his head on the table, the girl who had vanished under the table popped up. Jr glared at her and she vanished once again, " you will do that again!" Suddenly turning to max again jr smiled "I have a job for you, its steady and it's at the Kunai factory,"

Sodo's eyes widened in terror, but quickly went blank when Jr's head looked at him. "It's a steady job max, you'll have it for, heh, as long as you need it" Sodo said quickly.

The girl who's hands were on the table now after being forgotten by the other girl, pushed herself closer to Jr. Her eyes seemed worried. "Show up tomorrow at the factory at 5 in the morning. Tell them Jr sent you"

----s----

Viola ran up her stairs as fast as her old legs could carry her. What was that noise? As she got to her grandsons room she was stunned to see his dresser in pieces, and the window was open. "Mayuri! Mayuri!"she shouted, "Keiji, lost control again!" her little feet darted back downstairs. Her husband's eyes looked worried. "Mayuri! He hasn't lost control in months! What's wrong"

"Do you know where he went?" Her husband asked.

Viola took a small breath, "of course I don't? I didn't even see him , he was out of his window before I even got up the stairs. Do you want to go after him?"

Mayuri scrunched up his old face, "no he'll come back, the natural tendencies are to avoid people, and so he'll probably go into the woods more."

"Mayuri! What if this isn't normal? What if somebody comes across him and he hurts them? What if he gets lost? It's starting to storm! He could get hurt!"

"He'll be fine, he's done this before."

"BUT NOT FOR MONTHS!" her hands had found her way to her hips. "what if he gets sick?"

"DO YOU WANT me to look for him"

"well it's your decision, but Mayuri, he could get hurt! He could start bleeding without realizing it then bleed out and die, and never notice it!"

" Ok! OK I'm going" her husband huffed as he headed out, what he was huffing for, it was his decision to go out! Viola took a deep breath and headed up stairs to clean up the mess. Kami help that boy.

---s------ ----

Mayuri was outside, sniffing the air, his grandson was south about 8 kilometers away. The boy was easy to track. Not like his mother, no not at all, thank god. Tracking her was ridiculous! But the boy ran a lot faster and could hit a lot harder. He was too old for this. Mayuri started himself out at a jog, he hoped beyond hope that the boy was not a late bloomer like her was.

His clan joined Konoha during the clan unification war, at the very end. The keitaru's had tried to stay neutral, in their home of the small mountain range between Konoha and the rock country. But land was being taken and they were being attacked from all sides. There people had known those hills better than anybody, they were caravan raiders by trade. Any side that had them on their side would win the war easily. Since they controlled all the roads and pathways. They weren't going to join any side, but then the first mizukage gave them an ultimatum, the rock country ended up slaughtering most of them. Resulting the Keitaru's joining Konoha, and Konoha winning the war.

The average Keitarus found their spirit guide by the age of 15, Mayuri had found his when he was 27. Hence why he was freakishly tall. But until then, he couldn't help his grandson. But maybe that was a good thing, all his family that had theirs by 15 didn't survive the ninja war. He was surprised he did, considering whenever they were at overwhelming odds, they just sent him in the general direction of the attacking ninja's and hoped he didn't kill anybody on their side. He was only paired up with Saratobi and danzou cause they were the only ones that could control him.

Kristi never had that problem, she had found hers at 12, so quickly too. She was amazing, a small smile splayed across his lips as he thought about his daughter. His beautiful baby girl of a daughter. She had been his world, his everything. His poor little girl. He never understood how she could have been so stupid as to get herself pregnant. He had never understood why she hadn't gotten rid of the kid. But she would never explain anything to him. She used to always talk to him, he was her father, her confidant. She was his everything. Finally biting the nail, Mayuri called his guide, time to catch up to the runt.

It took him 11 minutes to catch up to his grandson. God he was getting old. The boy was in a clearing, shattering trees with his attack. Mayuri took a deep breath and let his other side take over. The movements he felt were languid and smooth. Dodging Keiji's blow here easy, and every mistake he made, every opening seemed to be surrounded by a small blue light telling Mayuri to do the most damage. How he could hurt the kid most, but he was too well trained, and he always had to be conscience of his opening. He was too old to let his grandson hit him. That was the trouble, his grandson had the power he was able to see every bodies weaknesses, but was he able to control that urge to kill. NO of course not, that would be too much for Mayuri to ask.

With one quick fake to the left and a snap or his elbow on his grandson's forehead, Keiji's body went down. He would be up in about an hour or two, just enough for Mayuri to lug his ungrateful body to their house.

------s-- -s—

Adara went through the ally, trying to be alert, somebody is always waiting to jump you in the dregs. Her father was right about one thing, her being a shinobi helped her in her life, taught her how to make everybody criminals. And it somewhat is helping her financially, Zaki got a very nice hefty check for damages after they thought she was dead. So she was ok for food and housing and crap. How she wanted a cigarette right now! She could get some at the Laundry mat. He she had enough money to buy a carton. Fuck Max, trying to make her all healthy like.

Max, thoughts traveled to what he was doing right now. Prolly screwing any girl he could get his hands on. Exclusivity Zaki's but. But what was he supposed to do? It's not like either of them knew how to describe their relationships. Before the fall she would have said that they were just really good friends. That he was closer than an older brother. Max had always told her that he loved her, she never took it seriously. Then when she came back, it was all too obvious what he meant. Why did he feel the need to take care of her? She could take care of herself, she didn't need him. Then why did she feel so alone? She thought that once she had taken care of Milton, everything would go right. But things had just gotten emptier. Tears started to fall from the girls face. She didn't know what to do. How could she ever face Yamato again? He would ask questions, he didn't need to know, he couldn't know! And now max was mad at her, and she didn't want to say sorry! She just wanted him to, to maybe yell back at her! Maybe not be so understanding, she just wanted him to not do what she says for once!

Why didn't he realize that when she meant go away she really was begging him to stay?

This was all that stupid missions fault. Those stupid twins, that stupid, stupid nanny. Asking her those questions about things that weren't NONE of his business. Why did he care AT ALL?! He was just some guy who didn't know her at all, he felt like he was helping. He was taking his essential time to help, but he wasn't. He was just looking down at her. Casting her in the stereotypical victim of sexual abuse! She was not typical, it didn't affect her life at all. IT just happened and she just wanted to forget it. Zaki could handle it herself, she didn't need that stupid Nanny's or Yamaoto's or ANYBODY else's help for that matter. It just happened she couldn't do anything about it but forget it, and that was her stupid plan! Why couldn't they just all bud out her business.

The only one who really knew was Max. he didn't judge her, he was just…Max. And that's all she really needed. NO she didn't need anything she just liked having him around. He made her feel safe, and he wasn't trying to live up to anybody else's standards. Zaki whipped away her tears as she saw the laundry mat sign, she didn't need Max, she could take care of herself. The lights of the neon signs laundry mat hit her. She just really wanted him to be there at that moment.

**HAHAHAHAHAHA OMG I'm FINISHED I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! sorry I took soooooooo long, I hope people are still reading! Only two more chapters of filler, I PROMISE!!! I hate writing filler so the sooner I get it done with the better, aren't you all excited!!!! By the way it was brought to my attention that people are more likely to read if I make the story actually shorter, so I will probably end this section at chapter 40. Any suggestions on names.**

**As always read and review!!!!!!**


	35. Drowning

**Sorry people I reread my last chapter, and realized I didn't catch two mistakes, first during the last part I said Adara first, but I meant Zaki and I said Zaki right after, And then I got Keiji's mother's, name wrong, cause I changed it and forgot I changed it so, yeah…sorry bad writing on my part :C His mom's name's Kaya, NOT KRISTI! I'm soooo sorry. This is another long chapter, hope you all enjoy it :D**

Mayuri sat next to his grandson on the hill just outside of Konoha. The boy's breath was steady, and there was a peaceful look on his face. His purple hair, reminded Mayuri so much of his daughter. The boy needed to find his spirit protector. For his daughter it was losing her two team mates, for him it was Viola. Things change in a person that makes them different. That makes them worthy.

"_Mayuri!"Saratobi smiled at him, he was waving at his taller team mate. Mayuri rolled his eyes and slouched over to his friend. "What are you doing?" The other asked he hated banter like this; it was one of the curses of being on their three month domestic missions. Then you have your 1 month break then your 3 months at the front. The 1 month break was the worse; people wanted you to 'socialize then'. Mayuri was not one for socializing. _

"_I'm going to go train," he huffed. The shorter boy smiled at him genuinely. Mayuri rolled his eyes again, that happened a lot. _

"_You should come with us, were going out to that new ramen bar in town."_

"_And we would be?" _

"_Danzou, Kechi, and I"_

"_Oh"_

"_COME ON MAN! Do you have any sense of fun in that over grown body of yours?"_

"_No"_

"_Please?"_

"_No"_

"_Are you sure"_

"_Yup"_

"_You know there will be a bunch of girls their"_

"_No, last time I let you drag me out to go look at girls, they all ended up trying to rip some of my clothes off."_

"_And YOU think that's a bad thing?" Sarutobi exclaimed incredulously._

"_Yes, they tore my only good pair of pants. Do you know how expensive those are at my height?" _

"_I do…not understand you. You have women throwing themselves at you at a regular basis, you're known as the hero of the marsh fields, and the second Hokage is thinking of naming you successor. ENJOY IT WHEN YOU CAN!" _

"_That's, just a rumor, the second has no intention of naming me his successor, and anyway I'm not interested." Mayuri mumbled to himself. His Sensei had hinted at it more than a few times, and he had stopped the conversation there. Mayuri did NOT want to have anything to do with being a shinobi after the war. _

_Sarutobi breathed in through his nose in frustration, "FINE, I didn't want to do this, but I will. If you come have fun with us, I will…pay for your meal" _

_That got Mayuri's attention, if there was free food involved. He guessed it wouldn't be That bad of experience. And anyway Sarutobi came from a rich family, he didn't. "ok, I guess I'll go" _

_Sarutobi smiled congenially at him and wrapped an arm around his elbows. There were the tallest part of him Sarutobi could reach. "Let's go!" _

_The stand was somewhat small, only a bar to sit at. There was already a small line of people waiting. "How are we supposed to have a nice dinner and 'pick up girls' with so little room to chat."_

_Sarutobi smiled at him like he was a child. "we can just offer them our humble laps to sit on."_

_Mayuri rolled his eyes. Suddenly two other men about his age appeared. One had dark hair and a severe square jaw with what seemed like a permanent scowl .Danzou seemed to be as happy as he was to be there. The other had light brown hair and one downward triangle on each cheek. The triangles really gave him away as an Inuzaki, but most people didn't really need to see Kechi to figure out what clan he was from. All you really needed was a little sniff. He was a lot happier to be their than Danzou._

"_How long's the wait?" He asked Sarutobi. _

"_Not long Kechi only about 10 minutes, Where's Jango?" Sarutobi asked, looking for Kechi's nindog. _

"_he decided not to come" Mayuri glanced toward Danzou, at least somebody else found this as foul as he did. The line seemed to go on forever. _

_After 10 minutes of torture, they were finally seated. oh how he hated…people. "So remind me Saratobi why are we here again?" Danzou asked. _

_The brunette smiled at him, "Girls, and Food"_

_Danzou blinked twice, Mayuri didn't think the scowl could get deeper, but apparently he was wrong. "I see how we get the food, what about the girls, there are no empty seats for them to sit down." _

_Kechi scooted farther away from the counter hands gesturing to his lap, "we provide them with the seats." _

"_Hey Ladies!" Saratobi gestured to a group of gaggling girls, they all giggled in response. _

_Mayuri hated giggling."You girls want to come get some seats, if you don't mind sharing that is?" Sarutobi said. All the girls giggled more. They whispered to each other, one or two of them seemed reluctant to go the others seem excited. Finally the later of the group won the argument and they cut in line to join them. There were five girls. There were two identical blonds that had large bosoms, one was wearing a pink tank top and short blue shorts while the other was wearing a blue tank top and short pink shorts. They giggled and bounced towards Sarutobi. _

_The next was a red head with green smoldering eyes, her shirt was Chinese style and her hair was up in a bun only a few ringlets falling. She strutted over right to Danzou and sat down on his lap. Her head snapped up at Danzou. "I'm going to sit here. Don't get frisky." He scowled in response but didn't respond. _

_There were two left, they were both uneventful, one had chestnut brown hair and glasses. She was sniffling into a hanky that looked more like a rag. She wore a black peasant skirt and a long tie-dye nylon shirt. She seemed the most reluctant, and didn't know where to go. The girl beside her had long blond hair that was partially back off her face. She seemed the youngest out of all of them, and the most awkward. Her hands were playing with silver bracelets at her wrists. She was wearing an apple green top that had a little rap that ended with a bow on her side. She was also wearing khaki pants. She looked at Mayuri, and flinched a little then she looked at Kechi, she seemed to take a step closer to him. Then…_

_She sniffed the air, and took a step away from Kechi. Her counterpart blew her nose vary loudly beside her. The blond then whispered something into the glass's wearing girls ear. The girl responded loudly, "NO, I can't smell anything with this cold." Her nose had just turned a little redder. And then the brunette sniffled a little more. The blond squirmed a little realizing that Kechi and Mayuri were both listening. She whispered in the other's ear again. The sniffer turned to look at Mayuri, he made sure to scowl at her. Then she faced the blond and nodded. The brunette headed toward Kechi. The blond walked over to him. _

_The girl stood there a while looking at Mayuri questioningly, Mayuri was too busy eating his pork ramen to really notice. She cleared her throat, and he did nothing. She continued to stand next to him. Her feet started tapping the ground. Mayuri ignored her. Finally after about 30 seconds of tapping. The girl spoke. "Excuse me" He looked up, making sure to slurp the noodles right in front of her. The girl seemed to get over her shyness in her annoyance. "may I sit down." It was a statement, not a question. Mayuri blinked, well if he said no, he could quickly eat and then ditch her and let her have the seat all to herself, and he would get over the socializing. The older boy looked over at the blond. She was nervously stroking her hair behind her ear. Her face was pointed to the ground, she quickly glanced at him. _

_Her eyes caught his attention, they were blue-green, like a marsh. It was like lightning striking him quickly as her eyes caught his. And his heart started to race. His palms were getting sweaty. And he felt 7 times bigger than he actually was. His mouth seemed to work by itself in that instant. "Yes, sorry" He scooted so she could sit on his lap. She was a lot lighter then she looked and her body seemed so fragile as his arms encircled her to make the sitting more comfortable for them. _

_He looked over at the other's. Kechi and the brunette seemed to be sitting there awkwardly, there seemed to be a nervous giggle between them about something. Saratobi was sitting comfortably with the two girls on his lap, laughing and squishing together. Danzou and the redhead were both sitting their eating their ramen like the other didn't even exist. Then there was the small blond sitting on his large frame. Her back was stiff and shoulders straight. Her breath was quick and made her small chest rise up and down very quickly. "What's your name" He asked hoarsely, it seemed that his voice had forgotten how to speak. _

"_Mary Viola Watanabe but everyone just calls me Viola, and, and yours" Her voice seemed to be a lot quieter to, and the annoyance she once showed him was replace with nervousness. He Shifted their position a little so she was a little farther up on his lap and much more comfortable. The girl tried to hide her blush. She scooted farther away, her pants were made of slippery material. _

_He leaned down and whispered directly in her ear."Keitaru Mayuri." Her breathing quickened and he could feel the goose bumps on her arms. Mayuri got a sick pleasure on seeing the girls reaction. Her face seemed to be turning more and more red as the conversation went on. _

_The girl pulled her hair back behind her ear again, and gulped, "you mean, like the, one from the marsh fields?" _

_Mayuri pursed his lips, and decided not to respond to that question. The girl looked back at him, her eyes _met his and widened. "I apologies Keitaru-san I didn't know, it was you. I can get up if you want." The girl_ started to get up, but his left arm kept her there on his lap. He scooted her up closer to her back was pressed towards his chest. She really was no longer breathing. When she started slipping Mayuri held her still by an arm across the waist, and one across the chest. Her breast were a nice average size, and her nipples hardened under the fabric. After making sure she was nice and close Mayuri removed both arms. The boy came and gave her, her ramen. She thanked him with a nod. Her hand went to pull back that strand of hair. Mayuri seemed to be possessed with some sort of demon, for he brushed the hair back for her. _

_Leaning down towards her ear again, "Is that better?" He asked. She nodded and looked down at her hands. Her face wasn't anything special, he had seen Konoichi's that would blow this girl out of the water. But he liked her better than those konoichi's. They tried too hard, the girl seemed a little more humble. "By the way," he blew softly into her ear. "You can call me Mayuri, Viola." _

_The girl seemed to start breathing again, it was still a bit heavy. And gradually she started eating her ramen. After a meal of silence and polite talk, Kechi yelled across the bar "So Mary it's your birthday is it?" The girl in Mayuri's arm nodded._

_As though being forced to talk she opened her mouth, "I, uh, I'm uh am 18 now…" Sarutobi was looking down at her and smiled, "You're legal?" He asked, the two blonds in his arms nodded and whispered something in his ear. Mayuri's eyes widened, he was nine years older than this girl. Mayuri looked down at the row, danzou looked bored as the red head talked to Kechi, and the girl on his lap in a conversation. The two blonds were talking to each other, and Sarutobi was eyeing up Viola. _

_Kechi stood up, and the girl on his lap slid off, they both giggled. "Let's go to the bar and really celebrate." he said The two blonds nodded, so did the red head. _

_Viola seemed hesitant, "I don't know guys, mom and dad they want me to open up shop and…" _

_The red head interrupted her "I'll open up shop tomorrow, this is your 18__th__ and the only day when its okay to get drunk of your ass." _

"_Well, I don't know, Yuka's sick"_

_Finally the nasally one clasped her hands together "Please Viola, let's go have fun." _

"_Fine"_

_Everyone seemed relieved at her decision. "So were all going to the bar then?" Sarutobi asked._

"_I'm leaving, thanks for the food Sarutobi." Danzou said, he waved goodbye and the mood lightened up considerably._

"_I'm assuming you are probably leaving too then Mayuri?" Sarutobi, explained. Everyone looked at him to answer yes. _

_Mayuri looked at the girl still sitting on his lap, then at Sarutobi who was defiantly eyeing Mayuri's girl up, yeah no way that was going to happen. "no I'll go with you guys." The girls eyes widened and she got off his lap. Her hand pulled her hair back behind her ear again. Mayuri looked at everyone else, "what are we waiting for let's go." _

-k-

Shikaku looked down at his hands. He hated the guests bed. He had really dug himself into big hole. It seemed that he had said words he really didn't mean. He had overreacted at something. And his daughter retaliated with another overreaction. He had never had that type of problem with Shikimaru. He would just tell his son, that he was being a lazy dumbass that need to get his ass out of those dam clouds and into that training field. Shikimaru would grumble, then he would train for the next 4 days, then he would just have to give him the talk again. It really was a nice simple system, and if shikimaru ever gave him lip he smacked him upside the head. But with Adara it was, he was in a whole new universe. She was a whole new animal. She took everything out of context. He wasn't expecting her to be shikimaru, but if he treated her different she blew up at him. He didn't understand. Shikaku had always heard the saying that women are from Venus and men from Mars, but he had never truly understood it until Adara hit puberty. He heard feet going down the stairs and knew they were Adara's. She was probably trying to sneak out. The door closed and she was gone. She must be going off to blow some steam. It wasn't a bad idea after all. After waiting a few more seconds Shikaku took off, as he was heading out to the back door. He stopped his wife was in the kitchen her eyebrows raised in expectation. Before they were dating, he had found that stare incredibly attractive. But then again before they were dating he really never paid attention to why she was making those faces at him. He paid attention to her legs. But now after 22 years of marriage he knew exactly what that face was for. She wanted him to do something.

"I know your planning on following her, actually talk to her Shikaku, " Yoshino scolded.

Shikaku scowled at his wife, then with a sigh he turned and left.

Following his daughter was relatively easy, she wasn't really trying to mask her chakra. Or if she was she was doing a piss poor job. The sense was heading for the training grounds, was she meeting somebody? Maybe that Keiji boy, he was probably a distraction to Adara. He always had been, if she hadn't wasted her time helping him to study she could have been head of her class. And again today she blew of her training to help the boy's grandmother. She needed to stop caring about boys and start caring about her training. Now he was going to have to talk to her. Like actually talking. Shikaku hated actually having conversations. They were unpleasant, and usually ended up with somebody angrier at him than before the talk.

Inoichi got off easy, that stupid Sasuke prick left Konoha for most of Ino's intense training…that was actually a great idea! He should have Keiji thrown out of Konoha. That would solve all his problems. Shikaku, turned back to go home, his wife's face flashed before his eyes. Oh crap, she probably wouldn't agree with the plan…she liked the boy for some reason. In no time at all Shikaku was approaching the training grounds. Climbing into a tree nearby he peered down at his daughter.

She was doing some advance dodge and throw exercises, Neji must have taught them to her. They were some of Gai's favorite's. She was doing okay hitting 8 out of the 10 targets, but still it wasn't that bad. Her release could be quicker, but the form was there. Adara sprang a back flip, the form was perfect and she was defiantly more flexible than shikimaru. But then something happened he didn't expect. She released a kunai and aimed straight at him. Shikaku jumped to avoid it, she landed her stand and six more Kunia were in her hand as she stood silent waiting for him to move.

"I know you're out there, you can come out now!". She yelled, Shikaku realized that the jig was up so he stepped into the clearing. On instinct once he started moving Adara pivoted around and threw two kunia's one went three hundred yards to the left, the other was straight at him, Shikaku easily caught it at its tip.

"Is that how you say hello to your father?" He asked her. His girl's eyes widened.

"Dad?" She gasped as she dropped all the rest of her kunai. Shikaku was now on the training ground, Adara scrambled to pick up all her kunai. She seemed surprised that he was there.

"Yes…who did you think it was?" He asked, the girl's eyes, that looked so much like her mother's widened and she rubbed her nose.

"No one!"

"so you could have been attacking a squirrel for all you knew." He hadn't been hiding at his very best, but it wasn't obvious either, he had it masked enough for a person not really paying attention not to notice. But not enough to mask it all the way. But then again why was she trying to sense anybodies chakra in the first place. "that's a little hypersensitive."

The girl turned around and started throwing straight at the targets. "Sorry, I sensed a chakra of a human just sitting there in a tree, watching me. In the middle of the night! What was I supposed to do just ignore it?" there was a lot attitude in that voice.

"Hey don't use that tone with me young lady, you could have attacked a shinobi just passing by," Shikaku had a feeling that this lecture wasn't going well.

Adara snipped back, "but I didn't did i?" She was getting frustrated, missing easy shots. After missing a third shot in a row she pivoted towards him, "what are you doing here anyway?"

"I came to see where my teenage daughter was going in the middle of the night."

Adara pursed her lips, "so your spying on me now," rolling her eyes and turning back towards the targets, "That's great, not only do I have a dad that thinks I'm incompetent he also doesn't trust me. Thanks dad!"

Shikaku gritted his teeth, he shouldn't take that kind of talk from his daughter, a part of him wanted to yell at her. But that would not solve anything. Taking a deep breath, he tried to continue calmly, "I just wanted to talk about what happened, after you got home. I think we both have some explaining to do."

Adara turned towards him and crossed her arms, "Ok, go on."

"Maybe you should go first." Shikaku said, he really didn't know how to start telling his daughter that she had changed into a horrible hormonal monster.

"I SHOULD GO FIRST? No dad I think YOU should go first."

Shikaku took another deep breath, this was going to be hard not starting a fighting match. "Ok, I don't know how you want me to act. You skip training for a day, you only have 29 days left. I get upset with you and then you act like I'm the bad guy because I treat you differently than your brother. I realize this, hence why I wanted you training, so you could get better and become a chunnin." Adara closed her eyes and shook her head.

"That's just it, you assume that I need more training than Shikimaru, that Shikimaru will just understand everything instantly, but goodness gracious I need all 29 days because I'm so slow and dumb!"

"I didn't say you were slow and dumb."

"But that's what you meant by different right? That I'm not as good."

"You always say you want me to recognize you as you Adara, I'm doing that! I'm not expecting you to be your brother, your brother is…"

" THAT he's a genius and I'm just dumb old Adara, he doesn't need to train as hard so if he misses training once a week, 'o well'. But if Adara misses training once got to scream and yell at her or she will fail."

Shikaku took another deep breath this wasn't getting anywhere, "Adara, I'm sorry, but it's the truth. Shikimaru is a genius he doesn't need to work as hard. I'm not saying you can't do it."

Her face fell from being angry to almost about to cry, and Shikaku's heart burst. Her eyes roamed around the clearing, they were getting watery, Shikaku could tell. "I'm always going to be second best. I guess I should just accept that." Shikaku walked over to give her a hug but she pulled away.

"I didn't mean for you to take it that way." Shikaku confessed.

Adara was starring at his shoes intently and just nodding, "okay"

"you can still do it, you just need a little extra training."

"Okay"

"there's nothing wrong where you are now,"

"Okay" Shikaku, now was just talking to a wall, Adara had completely shut down.

"Are you going to say anything else?"

Adara looked up at him, "what do you want me to say?"

"maybe what you're thinking."

"that I'm never going to be good enough for you. That I was a mistake to begin with, and that your only hope for me is that I don't embarrass the family name." his daughter's tears fell freely from her face as she wiped them away. Shikaku took her into a big bear hug.

"hey, hey calm down now, that's not true, you are fine they way you are."

"NO I'M NOT," she cried into his jacket. "I'm not a human calculator, I'm sorry I can't think 200 steps in front of my opponents. I'm sorry I hate Shogun, I'm sorry , I'm sorry I'm not good enough to make you happy."

"Who say's that? You are good enough Adara, I just know you have to work harder than your brother, when I yelled at you…I was out of bounds to have, over reacted about you missing one day of training. I guess I was worried, about you growing up to fast, and not really worrying about training…just boys."

Sniffling and wiping the last of her tears away, she looked up at him, "Of course I worry about training, but today, I just thought you wouldn't really care, cause you know, you never care when shikimaru does it, and if you do, you just scold him a little…wait" she looked up again, "what boys, you mean, Keiji" Her eyes rolled in her head, and she broke up the hug, "you're not still on that are you dad. He's my best friend, it's not going to change. I'm going to continue hanging out with him," Shikaku opened up his mouth to say something, "but he will not interfere with my training! I promise." He shut his mouth.

"Are we good?" He asked his daughter, pulling her into another bear hug.

"yeah were good," she told him, finally cracking a smile at him. Shikaku hooked his arm around her neck.

"Hey Addy, let's go home. I'm tired"

-e—s-s- -

Max rubbed his eyes, he had tried to get some sleep, going to bed right after he got back. And took a shower to get the smell out. A kunai factory job, 5 a.m. most people didn't get there till 9 , he would probably just be cleaning something. He just hoped that it wasn't high risk. Barking out a laugh as he finally got out of bed he couldn't believe himself, high risk. It was just standing in line and pressing a button or setting a mold. He knew lots of people who worked there, Kunai were important in Konoha. A third of the population were dependent on them, That just counting shinobi, not any of the other guys that go into making a kunai. Hey and not all of them were line workers, some did other jobs. Maybe he got a manager's position. Max went to his dumpy little mirror in the bathroom. The grime had built up over the last two weeks. It's not like he ever had a reason to use it. Wiping away the soot then washing his hands a, max looked at himself in the mirror.

His hair wasn't that greasy, he could go without another shower; maybe a little shave, the stubble that had been collecting around his chin and cheeks was getting long. Max had never really had nice facial hair, just peach fuzz that was longer than normal. Max smiled back remembering when he was 15, he had actually tried to grow a beard. Drove Zaki crazy, he would snuggle up to her in the morning and rub a raspberry all over her face. She woke up swearing and cursing him to hell. That was when he was still um seeing clients for money. He stopped maybe oh a month before Zaki turned to a gennin. He had contracted a case of the clap. IT was easily fixed with some medicine, but still really embarrassing. Max liked not having sex, it was a lot less pressure.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Max did not feel 18, or 19 or how ever old he was. He felt 40 with all the stuff that's been going on. Now he was actually getting a job, becoming a tax paying member of society. Wasn't he just the most upstanding citizen. All clean shaven now. His dirty blond hair falling around his face in a somewhat organized mess. Parting it in the middle he pulled it back so most of it but the bangs were out of his face. He could probably put it in a ceremonial bun to make himself look more professional, but then he would look like a pansy.

Max wasn't going to lie he was actually very attractive. The square chin, sunken cheeks, scalding blue eyes. He did very well for himself when he started…taking clients. They hadn't cared that he was only about 14 at the time. He was an attractive young man with an impressive stamina and overactive imagination, and most of the ladies who paid him. Were really just lonely, most of them were housewives with husbands always away for something. There were a number of justifications for hiring him. But those were all just a cover up to how lonely these people were. In the end Max wasn't popular because he was attractive or imaginative. Max was popular because after it was all done, he would stay and hold the clients till they were fast asleep. He enjoyed that more than the sex.

Drying off his face with a towel, he went in to prepare for the job. He didn't know what the job was so he had no idea how to prepare for it. Should he impress a boss? Should he go for comfort, or should they be crappy clothes? He would just try to play it safe, Max grabbed a pair of baggy and torn black pants. They were loose so they were comfy, and formal cause they weren't blue jeans. Then grabbing a hunter green shirt, it was a button up so it was formal but still crappy enough to be ok if he ruined it.

The morning was crisp and cold enough to show your breath. The closer he got to the cement building the higher the dread became churning in his stomach. Nasty acid rising from his intestines. All of his life he had never gone in there. Something just wasn't right around the place. It stunk of something, and just everything was wrong. His bodily functions started to go into hay wire, and Max found himself Dry heaving the closer he got. As he got to the entrance a convulsion hit him, and bile burned his throat as it rose like molasses to the back of his mouth. Grimacing Max swallowed it back down, then the bile seemed to take on new life spewing out of his mouth. After a couple more heaves he steadied himself, all of a sudden he felt a hand on his back. "You all right kid"

Max jumped up to face a man. The man was a little shorter than he was, a little older also. "Oh sorry didn't mean to scare you" The shorter man smiled at him, there was something weird about that smile. Or maybe the man's grey hair just reminded him of Zaki. The green eyes made him seem ancient. The man took out a cigarette. "Just saw you heaving away and wanted to make sure you were ok. What are you doing here so early."

Max opened his mouth to speak, the man seemed fuzzy around the edges of his vision. "Thanks" Max replied, "Uh um here I'm …" Max blinked again to steady his vision it still seemed blurry for some reason. "just, for a… job at the uh" Max pointed at the door behind him. Where did he know the man?

"Oh you'll be working with ok Delton." The man paused and looked at Max like he was choosing his words carefully, "Watch out when your around Delton. Want a cigarette?"

"No, I stopped smoking, it's bad for you, you know." The grey haired man laughed. Max looked at him "who's Delton?"

The man continued to smile that …smile, but then he stopped and sucked in his lips, as his eyes wondered all over looking for something to say. "Max he's, well he's right behind you." Max snapped his head backwards to look at the man called Delton, he saw a man walking to the door from the other side of the window. Wait a second…how did the grey haired man know his name. Looking back to ask the man how, the grey haired man was gone. A shiver ran down his spine, as he turned back to the other man walking towards him.

The other man came closer, Max peered through the door window. Standing there and waiting for the other man. As the other got closer his shoulder blades started itching. Then the man opened the door. The first thing Max notices were the huge scalding blue eyes. There was a freighting cynical air about those eyes. Maybe it had something to do with his shoulder length scraggly hair. It looked like it was supposed to be a light brown but it seemed that for some reason his hair seemed to have died suddenly. The persona was topped off with a huge scar across his sunken cheeks. "You the guy Jr. sent?" The man asked. His voice surprised the blond. He was expecting a deep gruff voice like an old shinobi, but it sounded like light tenor, an odd swing to his words made them sound almost like a melody.

Realizing he was just standing there looking confused max decided to say something. "Uh, Yeah, and um uh I'm max…your name?"

The man squinted his eyes at him, "Call me Delton, come in before people see you,"

The blond was so confused, where had that guy gone, what the "Hey did you see where that guy went ."

"what guy?" his future co-worker/employer maybe said in a harsh whisper. As Max entered the door, Delton looked outside, nodding to somebody in the distance he looked back at max questioningly. "There was no guy,"

"I…uh must have just imagined him in my mind then"

Delton took the lead and Max patiently followed. After about 5 minuet's of walking Delton turned to him with a smile. And it showed that he was once attractive, many years ago. "Hey sorry about that kid. Have to be kind of hostile with the eyes always watching. But right here in the hallway and the bathroom are safe from the eyes, just so you remember." The man was talking faster now as though he knew he was rushed. "Ok let me give you the 411of what we are doing here. We are," pausing Delton put up his hands in air quotes " 'officially' here to warm up the machines hence why we are here before everyone else." Delton looked around again in a panic, "did you hear that?" Max shook his head. "Oh well back to business what we are really doing is making shipments of faulty Kunai, they want about 1 shipment a week from us which is only about 400 kunai got it?"

Max blinked twice, what the hell? Faulty kunai, wasn't that sacralige. Konoha was the best weapon mass producer, a lot of its economy was based off of the sales. Why would they… "I'm confused."

Delton rolled his eyes, "I'll explain it when we are working cause we have to start." He was lead to a catwalk, Max looked down, huge steam machines of some sort were down there. "Those are the makers, we only have to deal with those at the end of the week. For the next days we will just be making our molds and mixing our steal. I'll show you the ways, to make most of the faults undetectable, I've gotten really good. Only a master weapon's maker can detect my flaws." Delton told Max with pride in his voice. Max looked around the room they were in now it was dark and creepy, the room was lined with some sort of grey block, Delton went to the back wall and started taking some of the blocks from a stack at the far wall. "So here are the un molded molds for the Kunai, the ones on the left wall are the ones the actual Kunai makers have made. Those are the ones that the peons who work for the factory make every day. Don't touch them, don't do anything with them. The ones on the right wall are the old molds that have been deemed unfit for just general use, like the broke or something, those are going to be broken down by somebody else to make fresh molds like the ones I have in my hand. I sometimes go and scavenge through them to get some inspiration for the job." Delton took the four he held and headed further down the room, where there were more grey blocks. At the end of the room was a door. Max was looking around and again he had to fight the bile down from his throat again. "Could you get the door from me Max?" Delton asked.

Max stood there watching the door until Delton asked again. Getting out of his stomper, Max brushed past Delton to the door and opened it. Behind the door was a small room with a tacky orange couch and a avocado chair. A small coffee table was between them and the room stunk with cigarettes. It looked like an employee lounge. "This is where we get to do the work. Just sit down and I'll demonstrate a simple fault." Delton sat down on the chair and put a grey block in front of him and pulled out what looked like a sculpting kit. As he spread all his tools out Delton started to explain all of them and their purposes. "Ok so this bigger one is the initial gouger, careful all these instruments are super sharp." Delton stopped for a second and stared at the instrument in his hand and looked at it like he was talking with it. Max took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on all that was being said to him. His stomach kept on sinking, and he felt like puking again. As Delton kept on talking and max stopped thinking about anything, his thoughts just became one cloudy thought of grey. And a questioned lingered in the air as he started on his first mold. What was he getting himself into?

- -9-

Yamato woke up to the smell of coffee, and bacon, his nostrils had never smelled such wonderful delight. Getting up in a trance he wondered to himself if he was under a genjutsu. But the smell was so wonderful he really didn't care. As he opened the door to his kitchen, he heard the glorious sizzling of bacon grease. And his thoughts consisted of two words and a sound, mmmmm coffee mmmmmm bacon.

"Oh great you are up!" A chipper voice said, Yamato opened his eyes to look at something that made the smell seem average. Standing by his oven was Moses in orange baggy boxers and a black tank top. Her red hair was pulled up in a low bun. The light from the window in his kitchen shined just right the way it hit her. She leaned over the stove and turned the burner back to low, before bouncing over with a cup of coffee in her hand. "Here's your coffee," Yamato looked at the cup and smiled.

"You didn't have to do this for me." Looking up Yamato realized she was already by the oven again, scooping some scrambled eggs on to his plate.

"Well I wanted to thank you last night for all you did, I mean taking me to my meeting so I wouldn't be late. That was just so nice of you, and plus you are letting me stay here for free. I was going to thank you last night, but by the time I got back you were in the shower. So I thought I would wake up early and make you breakfast. I hope you like your eggs scrambled." She set him down his plate that had beautiful scrambled eggs with bacon on the side. Yamato tasted the coffee in his hand, it was marvelous. This had to be a dream. Mosses sat down on the opposite side of the table and started eating. "To tell you the truth they are the only type of eggs I know how to make." Yamato was drinking more of the coffee. Hearing a ding Yamato looked around.

"Is that a toaster?" He asked, Mosses blinked at him and shook his head, she then got up and went to the counter. "I have a toaster?"

"Yup I found it hiding in one of your cupboards," He felt like the dumbest person ever, he had a toaster and he didn't even know it! "I got some rhubarb and strawberry jam for the toast. Would you like some?" She asked, Yamato nodded his head. She then came and set the buttered and jam toast on his plate with the eggs.

As though the words were birds flying out of his mouth, Yamato blurted out "I love you." Mosses stopped and he felt her eyes widened, He looked at mosses who looked concerned. "…just kidding! I…uh…meant the uh…coffee." Yamato forced himself to laugh, it sounded so fake. And to his surprise she forced out a laugh too.

"I got it last night from the store too, with the jam"

"Yeah….umm great coffee love it,"

"do I need to give you some alone time with the coffee?" She asked, then they both laughed for real.

"So uh what's on your schedule for today?"

"A meeting at twelve, you? "

"I'm going to training grounds with Naruto…and I'm not sure if Zaki is going to show up…"

"That's the girl you were telling me about before right?"

Yamato looked at his plate, it was delicious…but he suddenly lost his appetite. "yeah, I uh not sure what's going to happen with that." And again flying word syndrome hit Yamato "I'm afraid I failed her as a teacher. And that thought just the thought of failing one of my first students petrifies me. I mean I've gone on plenty of scary missions but this one matters." Yamato shut his mouth after that, he shouldn't have told Mosses about the thing with Zaki. It was personal matters of Zaki's and Yamato's mosses had no right to know.

Mosses took a bite of eggs and chewed slowly as though she was picking her words carefully. "well, don't think you've failed Zaki, I think she had problems before she even knew you. She probably learned not to trust people at a very young age. You can't really do anything about it." mosses stated diplomatically, "Now eat up, you have a big day ahead of you." Yamato breathed deeply and continued to eat.

After the meal Yamato felt better and he was nicely stuffed. "Thank you for the terrific breakfast it was amazing Mosses."

"oh it was nothing, I mean I got a lot out of the breakfast too. I mean for one," Mosses paused and smiled at Yamato, taking a sip of her coffee. " I didn't know you were a fan of superman, or that you have daffy duck slippers."

Yamato's face blanked as she said that, he looked down quickly to clarify the fact he was only wearing his superman boxers and his daffy duck slippers. He had been shirtless the whole time…and he hadn't noticed. Yamato looked at his white plain ceiling, he really should have a shirt on. Anybody looking in on Mosses and him would draw unwanted conclusions. He heard Mosses' laugh from across the table. "Your face is sooooo red" She laughed harder as he looked at her. "Geesh if we're going to be roommates, we are going to have to get used to each other in our pajama's. Who knows we might actually see each other in less," Yamato chocked on his coffee, spitting a little out. Mosses pressed her lips together and blushed a little also, "I meant by accident…"

"I think I should go get ready, do you need to use the bathroom? Or else I'm going to use it if you don't"

"Oh no go ahead, I don't have to go anytime soon."

Yamato got up and walked quickly to the bedroom shutting the door behind him. That was unbelievably embarrassing.

-s-f-

Kaida opened her eyes to see the grey and cracking ceiling of her home. When she grew up she would live in one of those nice houses you see by the school in Konoha the ones that have tire swings hanging from the tree in the yard. The one's were kids didn't have to worry about the bills and didn't care what money was. Kaida was always painfully aware of her parents money position. They tried to hide all their problems from her. She wasn't stupid, she knew something was wrong, with the work her father was doing especially. Too many shinobi were watching her these days. She was used to it cause when ever her dad had translated something for them she had been watched. But it seems as though lately more of them were watching. Or maybe she was just noticing more of them because of her training. Kaida turned around and saw her mother's face nuzzling the nape of her father's neck like usual, he had his arm wrapped around her shoulder's. Kaida didn't have much as far as material positions were concerned. But at least her parents were happy together. She had read books were parents would get upset and split up and leave the kid between them. She would never have to worry about that, and secretly Kaida hoped that if she ever had children they wouldn't have to worry about that either.

Kaida closed her eyes again trying to fall back asleep, it had only been may when their first meeting was held. She had been a gennin for 7 months, and was already going out to be a chunnin. That was impressive. It had taken Itachi two years, but he had also started out younger than her. Kaida started shaking remembering what happened during that mission. Every part of her told her she should just forget about it, that lots of shinobi go through that experience. She should just get over it. then another part of her would start screaming inside, telling her that she shouldn't have had to go through that. Nobody should go through that, they should make genjutsu illegal or something. It was too effective, When a person can just get in your mind like that it's just wrong. Getting up Kaida went to their bathroom to take a shower. On one of their kitchens chair was a broken Yo. His fur was leaning to the left, and the seams in his back were all ripped out, with the stuffing hanging out. Yo had taken a beating during the chunnin exams. Thinking back to the chunnin exams reminded Kaida of Kiba. And she could feel the blush heating her cheeks. He was so cool. Kaida wished she could be that cool one day.

The shower was small, but Kaida was also small so it worked. TenTen wanted her at training soon. She liked her new sensei, she was very intense. Kaida loved Yamato, and she felt safe and comfortable with him, but TenTen she was defiantly going to push Kaida much more. Kaida never felt challenged enough in Yamato's training. It was hard, but not hard enough he slowed down for Zaki and Keiji. It was frustrating knowing she could do more but not being able too. She was the ones who carried them through the exams so far. They had no plan of action when they got into that forest, Zaki was practically hypertonic , and Keiji…bless his soul wasn't exactly a planner. Plus she helped every other team out with the huge explosion! It might have been a little much but still it really cut down the teams that got through. But did ANYBODY thank her? NO she was just sweet little Kaida, there for amusement, and a gennin out of pure luck. She couldn't handle herself she was only 8! It was ridiculous how some people looked down on her. They should respect her she was one of the most talented people of her generation. But no all they told her was to slow down appreciate what she had. She wanted to make Anbu before she was 16 she had to work to do that. Nobody told Hanabi that they treated the Hyuuga girl like a prodigy.

Kaida was just as talented if not more so! Why did Hanabi get the special treatment? Because Hanabi went to that school and was first in her class? Kaida didn't even go to that stupid school and she was ranked first in the exams. Zaki didn't even go to the stupid school either and she still got at least mid-range on her exams! And poor Keiji was last on his exams and he went to the school every day. So the school was defiantly not set up properly, if a home school kid and a flunky who had no idea what was going to happen scored higher than a poor diligent student who had prepared for months.

Kaida stepped out of the shower and dried herself off, the towel wasn't very good. Why was she always stuck with crap? All her life she had to deal with second hand clothes that were tattered and torn and houses that were falling apart. Why? Cause her parents barely made anything. And when they did get some cash, it went to paying their bills getting all the stuff they absolutely needed like food, then the rest went to her mother's stupid soup kitchen. That freaking thing that she used to have to help at, where drunks and druggies too lazy to make a living went to get food. And what bothered Kaida the most was that her mother thought she was helping! Her mother chose to run a stupid charity for people who didn't deserve it. Her mother used to have everything, she used to be a daimyo's daughter, but she decided to what? Marry a traveling minstrel and barely get by? She could have married a successful shinobi and had a comfortable living in Suna.

Kaida took a deep breath, it wasn't fair, she shouldn't be mad at her parents like this. She shouldn't feel so angry every time she had to sew up her clothes. She used to never feel like this, it used to never occur to her that there was any other way to live. But then she used to be a naïve idiot, Kaida got to see what everybody else had. Like Adara or Keiji, they lived in such nice houses and always seemed comfortable. Kaida wanted that. A noise from the bedroom shook her out of her rant. It was her father, he was just getting up. Kaida looked into the cupboard and took out the loaf of bread they had…they were running out. "Hey Kaida what are you doing up so early?" He asked groggy in his morning stupor.

"I have training dad, sorry."

"NO need to apologies" Kaida didn't feel like looking at her dad, she would just start feeling angry again. "Hey come over here and give your dad a hug, I feel like I never see you anymore," Her father said. Kaida rolled her eyes and turned around, her face was set in a frown. She really didn't feel like going through this with her dad. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing"

"Come on there must be something, you've been kind of moody lately. Has training been going well?"

Kaida smiled with her lips together, "I'm just a little worried about the 3rd exam that's all. I want to do really well, especially sense most of the family is going to be there." Her father smiled at her and gave her an affectionate peck on the forehead.

"Whatever happens I will be proud of you, and you have your whole life a head of you, if you don't get Chunnin this time it won't be that big of a deal. You have plenty of time."

Kaida frowned again, "why is everyone assuming that I won't get chunnin?"

Her father smiled at her again, "just promise me that you will wait until your fully finished with puberty before trying to become a Jounin?"

She felt her face go blank, "Dad, the average female does not fully complete puberty until she's 15 or 16 depending, that's like 7 -8 -8 years! Dad I can't wait 8 years; that's like forever!"

"Believe me Kaida it will go a lot faster than you can imagine. Now go finish your breakfast, and get going. I'm sure your new Sensei would be mad if you were late for training."

-a- s -

Viola looked down at the dish she had cleaned four times already. She hated these nights, she hated them when Keiji had to go through them, she hated them when Kaya went through them, she had never seen Mayuri go through it, thank god. She heard the front gate creek opened, the old women breathed a sigh of relief. The first to amble to the steps was Keiji, he had the same look he always had after an incident, a mixture of anger self loathing and disappointment. Viola stood in the kitchen door and looked at Keiji, "Go upstairs dear, you have to go to training in a few hours and you haven't slept at all." Keiji ambled up to his room, viola didn't start breathing until she heard his body hit his bed with a kerplunk. Viola went back into her kitchen. She had never been a konoichi, the only job she had held was being a cashier at her fathers grocery store. She wasn't powerful and strong like the men she lived with. She didn't command any respect in the political arena. But when she was in this kitchen, when she was cooking or cleaning even fixing a leaky faucet Viola felt she was in control. This house was her domain, it was her sanctuary, it held all her secrets and didn't tell. Viola knew everything that went on, with the people who lived there, and frequently visited. So when Mayuri stayed in the kitchen door frame, viola knew exactly what he was thinking about. He wasn't the least bit worried about Keiji, even though she was petrified for her grandson.

"A penny for your thoughts," his gruff voice echoed through her kitchen.

Viola sighed and turned around, "I really don't know how you can be thinking about sex at a time like this." Mayuri stopped leaning on the doorframe and gave her a skeptical look. Then with more grace then most people would deem possible for a man his size he walked over to viola and put his giant arms around her.

Leaning in to her ear he whispered, "you worry too much," Viola circled her arms around her husband. She leaned her head in so it was leaning by his stomach and sighed again. She felt his big hands start stroking her hair. "I was just thinking about the night we first met." He told her, Viola smiled. "do you still not remember that night?"

Viola's eyes grew larger as she recalled the white lie she told him that next morning, "I remember everything that happened before the twins and Sarutobi left the bar." Even after all these years the memory of that night still made her toes curl and her face blush. Feeling strong arms lift her up into her husband's arm bridal style she gave her Mayuri the look. "aren't we a little old for this?" His wolfish eyes gleamed at her in response and he kissed her temple.

"When I need help to make love to my wife, then we will be too old. But seeing as I'm having no problem now, the answer would be a no." and Mayuri leaned forward to devour viola's lips as her mind went to the morning after.

-s-

Zaki was off to a good start that morning, she had decided to show up to training today, Yeah her! It really wasn't her fault that she didn't show up, she had shit to take care of. And she didn't like that Naruto guy, something about him gave her the willies. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was defiantly something. Now Yamato was cool, she respected him, the creep had even grown on her a little, but he would want to talk about the incident. Which she didn't want to talk about. She would just act as though it never happened, and if he brought it up, she'll just pretend she didn't understand. It was an easier way of not dealing with it.

Getting to the ramen shop was easy and the glares from the old owner wasn't like it was new to her or anything. The blond idiot was already there, scarping away his food like he didn't even give a crap about how it tasted. The noodles were wiggling side to side as he slurped them to their untimely doom. The broth was getting all over his face from the upward movement of the noodles. It was disgusting, how he ate. The obnoxiously blue eyes glanced over at her, and they didn't light with disgust as she suspected, just recognition. Zaki took a deep breath and stayed there waiting for another reaction from the huge ridiculously blue eyes. He then had the audacity to smile at her. "Hey Zaki you want to sit down?" the goofy grin asked. Why did he annoy her so much?

She raised her lips up to wrinkle her eyes, it might just be a smile. "sure." She sat down next to him and twitched.

"So where have you been? You've missed training, that's kind of sloppy!" just like you're eating Zaki thought to herself.

"I've had personal matters to attend to." She replied.

"And you couldn't fit in a couple hours of training?"

"you wouldn't understand," Zaki told him, her voice cold, she knew she shouldn't say what was coming next. "You've never had family." Naruto physically retracted from that, and the temporary win didn't make up for the horrible sick feeling she felt afterward. Naruto was a nice kid he didn't deserve her being a bitch. But she defiantly wasn't going to apologies.

"Hey Naruto," Yamato's voice came through the doorway, so her sensei finally showed up. Naruto beamed and looked back at him.

"Your late, Zaki and I have been waiting forever, do you need breakfast?" He said her name as though they were the best of friend. How can a person be that cheerful, he must be a fake. She might have been a freaking loser but she was a real loser.

"No thanks I had breakfast before I left," Yamato said as he stepped in, stopping as he noticed Zaki, "I didn't know you were coming today."

"I thought I would stop by so you know…I didn't totally fuck up during the final exams," the old man behind the ramen bar scoffed at her language. She hated people who did that, she really did. What made them so freaking special that had them say one word was better than the other. Fuck them. She could feel his eyes on her, judging her, Yamato was also looking at her trying to figure what she was up to. And Naruto continued to slurp down his ridiculous ramen having the broth splatter everywhere like a bad crime scene. How can somebody be so oblivious?

"So when are we going to start this bitch of a training session?" she asked with fake enthusiasm.

Yamato blinked at her, he was trying to figure something out, probably how to act, there was an elephant in the room, and it wasn't Naruto's stomach.

-s-

She was standing right in front of him, he should say something, but in front of the others? Maybe during a break or something, he should say something. "When Naruto's finished."

When hearing this Naruto's slurping increased and he was finished within moments. "I'M DONE!" Naruto exclaimed. He jumped up and started running towards the training ground.

"Did you get breakfast?" Yamato asked, she looked pale, and a little gaunt.

"I'm not hungry."

"you won't be able to concentrate during the session, having a little breakfast would do you good…" Yamato didn't know what to say, "You're going to have to fight Naruto today, he might be dumb but he's not a pushover, you are going to need all your strength to do so. You can't do that on an empty stomach."

"And Naruto's going to get a massive stomach cramp before he even gets to the training grounds."

"Even so…not even a little to eat? You don't look well, do you have enough food at home?"

"slow down their bud, we got to go catch up to the crazed blond." She quickly darted out of the ramen shop. Yamato followed the grey haired girl, her hair seemed different, more frazzled than usual.

"Hey is everything all right?" Yamato grabbed her elbow gently to slow her down.

She shook him off, a frown graced her face, "What's with the 3rd degree? I'm fine Yamato."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure." Zaki finally stopped and looked at him "I've been going through a rough patch lately…" her eyes averted away from his, "but…I think I'm going to be ok, sensei I would take it as a kindness if you didn't ask any more questions." She turned around and continued walking.

She had never called him Sensei before.

Maybe things were changing.

As they got to the training ground, Naruto was already there waking at a stump. "Ok Zaki warm up a bit, I think you and Naruto will have a quick fight before you guys realize what you two can do for each other."

Zaki scoffed and muttered under her breath, "the only thing we can do for each other is to stay away from each other."

"LETS DO THIS!" Naruto yelled making a fist and raising it over his head. Zaki rolled her eyes.

"SHADOW CLONE!" about 1 hundred shadow clones of Naruto appeared out of thin air.

"well…shit," Zaki breathed. Yamato saw her nose scrunch up, as the shadow clones charged at her. She took in a breath, and breathed out a gust of wind that stalled the clones and whipped out about a quarter of them. During the time of staling Zaki quickly hid in the forest. The 75 Naruto's quickly scattered throughout the forest. Yamato made himself a perch to watch the proceedings violence.

Zaki had made herself 6 shadow clones, each hiding and setting up quick traps, Some of the Naruto's were already stepping into them. She defiantly was avoiding direct confrontation with him. And it's no wonder, Naruto was a typhoon of chakra, compared to Zaki's slight breeze. His mass amount of chakra gave him the advantage over Zaki. But Zaki's ability to manipulate other peoples chakra will come in handy, if she uses the mass amount of wasted chakra Naruto uses to make his clones she could beat him. Yamato spotted the real, Zaki up in a tree behind most of the clones, she had her eyes cloths and were performing the hand sign of wind. When a shadow clone died she used some of her wind chakra to have it come her way and then she would reuse the chakra. Yamato had showed her that technique, a couple of weeks ago. He was glad to see that she had nearly gotten it down. She still caused to much wind in the initial gust for an attentive person to figure out what was going on. And Naruto had just picked up on it, a smaller group of clones were heading right for her.

Zaki was right to observe that Naruto was oblivious during meals, but she had never seen him during training. In a fight Naruto had the attentiveness of shikimaru. She was underestimating him. It would cost her this fight. Suddenly she realized someone was coming that way, she hadn't realized that she was already surrounded though. So she headed east away from the sound, right where Naruto wanted her to go. When she got to the clearing again 20 clones attacked her at once.

Avoiding most of the obvious blocks from Naruto she started her hand signals behind her back, moving fast enough so Naruto didn't notice. She managed to kill 3 of the clones by just dodging and kicking. There was suddenly the puddles of mud on the ground rose up, to form one quick razor motion taking out about 10 but failing to realize the real naruto was already on top of her. Naruto's signature punch got Zaki right in the face. Causing her to fall down and form a small crater. Zaki was finished.

-a- s- -d-

Keiji met Hinata at the Hyuuga training grounds. They were large and gorgeous, almost like gardens. Is this where Hinabi grew up? It seemed so intimidating; seeing his petite sensei he quickly jogged over to her. Bowing he greeted her "Hello Hinata-sensei"

"Hello Keiji-san, how was your night?"

"restfull, and yours?"

"Fine also thank you for asking, now the first thing we are going to do today is study"

Keiji felt like his grandfather had just knocked the wind out of him, his face palled. He took him a while to read, and the words got all screwed up and made him feel dumb. "Wh-wh-what for se-sensei?"

"We have a lot of scrolls and books on old clans that nobody uses any more, there is some very interesting reading on your clan, it's easier for me…" her hands went up and her fingers started to form a triangle, was she as nervous as him? "It's easier for me to understand a theory before actually trying to do it, I thought….well I thought it would be helpful"

"uhh…ok," Keiji couldn't lie to her. "I'm, not very good at reading, I usually had to have my friend Adara help me during school, it takes me a long time to write mission reports…."

Hinata smiled at him kindly, "well It's a good thing we are reading then, the only way you can better is practice, don't worry I will help you."

-a-d-d-

Kaida finally stopped her 1000 round kicks for warm ups, oh TenTen was a tough teacher. Kaida felt her legs wanted to give out, but she bent down and steadied her knee's. "Good" TenTen barked. "Come over here for your 10 minuet breather, your body needs short breaks every once in a while."

"thank you sensei"

Kaida went over and sat next to Tenten stretching herself on the way down. "How do you think your team mates are doing?" Kaida scoffed, she didn't know how they were doing, this month was about preparing her for becoming a chunnin, not team building. TenTen was examining her with those chocolate eyes, and Kaida wasn't sure what she wanted to hear.

"Well…" Kaida looked at her sensei, "If Zaki shows up for training she's probably getting the crap beat out of her by Naruto, and if Keiji is training he's probably still doing basic chakra control." TenTen's face didn't change. She continued to be silent and Kaida felt like she had to start explaining, "Don't get me wrong, Keiji and Zaki both are very strong in some aspects. It's just they have major flaws…so do I? I'm not very good at throwing stuff, but isn't that why you are my Sensei? He he he" TenTen's expression didn't change.

"Come this way," Her silent sensei finally told her. Kaida followed the taller brunette all the way to the river, TenTen knelt down besides it. Kaida fallowed, TenTen put her hands warmly around her neck, she stiffened a little. Until TenTen shot down some warm chakra loosening the little girls spine. "Thank you Sensei"

"No problem, Kaida? There is a lot you have to learn about team dynamics."

"No; I understand team work, and leadership. Leadership is when you can know and understand each person's ability and make a plan that relies on their strength. Team work is following the plan to the best of your ability." Kaida chirped. TenTen smiled at her and tightened her grip on Kaida's neck.

Suddenly Kaida's head was jerked down and splashed into the water, she tried to pull her head back but couldn't, the ice cold water of the stream making her face numb. Kaida again tried to pull up but TenTen's hand was keeping her there, panicking she gulped the water down oh god she couldn't breathe, what was happening? Finally her head was jerked back up and air flowed through her lungs. "wha-"

Her head was snapped back down again before she could catch a good breath, what was happening? Why was her Sensei doing this? It seemed like it was never going to end, the second time she was pulled up she was crying, she was going to die drowning.

The third time, she was allowed to catch her breath. Kaida couldn't look TenTen in the eye, what was that about?

Then TenTen's melodic voice leaked into her ear "That it what happens when a mission goes wrong, it's like your drowning, and there is no plan only panic; trying to survive. During those time, it's not about plans or leadership, it's about connection. And if you don't have respect for your team mates, if you don't see them as your equal. They won't pull won't be able to pull you out of that water, and you won't be able to pull them out; so you will all end up drowning." TenTen stood up and turned her back to Kaida, "catch our breath, I expect you to run 6 laps of Konoha before 10"


	36. Suprise

Dear Gaara

Life in Konoha has been, uneventful. I'm still practicing with that idiot and Yamato. We have the same routine day in and day out. We start practicing at 5:30 every morning, doing simple warm ups to get our bodies ready. The idiot is loud, Yamato is quiet and I have a headache by the end of it. Then after the warm ups we spare. This is basically me running away and Naruto making as many clones as possible until he wears my chakra dry. How can anyone have that much chakra supplies? It's ridiculous! I mean he just continues to attack with his clones until I'm worn out, every time it ends the same way. He does the same moves he's predictable and I'm always overwhelmed. Yamato says this is teaching me how to become original in how to conserve and use my chakra. I don't understand how Naruto with no concept of chakra limitations could help me with that! He's just so pathetically optimistic it drives me fucking insane! …Oh sorry I forgot you like Naruto. Sorry we just don't seem to have anything in common, Ahhh well, how have you been doing? I'm sure the whole Kage thing is being a bitch right? Still not sure if I entirely believe you are a Kage…You just seem so young…no offence…You know what forget that take offence; you're like Max's age for fucks sake.

So how are you're siblings getting along? You still worried about your sis falling for that Nara Guy? Well I personally don't know him, but I know his sister…she's pretty legit. If you ignore her ridiculous crush on my team mate. Your eldest brother still creepy? It seems to be a trait in the family that arrogant creepy thing you all have going on. (Take offence to that). Do you do anything besides meetings and talking to old people? It seems like in our lasts letters all you do is talk about Your Sis/Bro, or the council of elders. (Who all sound like super D-bags by the way). But don't worry about it our council of elders in Konoha isn't much better than yours from what I hear. That's kind of why I don't want to make Jounin, I figure I will have to deal with them less. Or at least wait until they all kick the bucket.

So Max got a job. Did I tell you that? He got a job, what a sell out! He is working at the kunai factory early in the day. And I have to tell you, it hasn't helped his nerves at all. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm worried about the Fuck-tard. He's seems to be muttering under his breath all the time and constantly looking over his shoulder. He's always irritated with something or someone. He doesn't want to hang out. If I hadn't searched his apartment I would think he started using. But there was nothing there so…yeah. He's just-such a fucktard! Is it my fault he got a job? I mean we used to do everything together. But now all we do it fight. He's always worrying about me, when he's the one who is the wreck! Allie's been unbelievably quiet she's not lecturing me any more so that's always a good thing. So other than that nothing interesting is happening here.

Zaki

P.S. When are you coming to Konoha again? (I'm kind of excited!)

-s-

Dear Zakuro

It was nice hearing from you again. I am also very excited about going to Konoha for the exams, the team we sent is one of our bests, and I'm hoping they will make Suna Proud. I'm sorry to hear about you not getting along with Naruto. He's a good man and has a lot to offer the world. You just have to get past how loud he is and give him a chance. He's been through a lot and he's done a lot of very good things. I used to be in a very dark place Zaki, he pulled me out of it. Please just give him a chance. For our friendships sake. Yes despite the fact that I am relatively young, I am the Kazekage. I don't think I should have to remind you again.

My siblings are doing fine. Temari still is trying to hide her feelings for Shikimaru. I worry; I don't want her to think she can't come to me if something does happen between them. And I don't want either of them to act irrationally if things get a little more serious. The Nara's are a small but very important clan in Konoha, if they do wish to make that relationship permanent I would gladly try to do all I can to make it beneficial for both countries. It's just my sister is very impulsive and I have no doubt in my mind that if the two keep on dating, that they will eventually become sexually active (if they aren't already). And I don't think that Nara, is ready or willing to except the consequences of what might happen. By the way I do take offence to you calling my siblings and I arrogant and creepy, I can see how you can call Kankuro that, but I'm the poster child for happy and friendly (Ha Ha I told I joke, just like you taught me). Kankuro is doing fine by the way, he will be coming with me from Konoha. He's interested in training one of the Gennin on our team more but he wants to see how well he does first.

The council of elders is only an annoyance to Kage's you don't have to worry about them. I think you should strive to become a Jounin it's a great honor to get there and you certainly have the potential and personality to serve your country. I can train with you after the Chunnin exams, (not before because then it would look like I'm taking interests). If that will help. Don't sell yourself short Zaki, just because you weren't raised to be a Ninja doesn't mean you can't be.

I think it's great that Max is taking the initiative and getting a job. He sounded like a lazy bum when you described him to me earlier. He isn't just sitting around and waiting for things to happen to him anymore. About his personality change you are talking to the wrong person. I used to mutter to myself all the time, but I did that because I had a daemon inside me. I have no idea what Max's excuse is. Maybe Max is just worried you will outgrow him and move on to finer things in life while he will stay in the dumps doing nothing. That's probably why he got a job. I'm sorry Zaki but all the descriptions you gave me of this guy tell me he's bad news. He doesn't want you to continue being a Ninja and reaching your goals. He's just going to drag you down with him if you continue to hang out with him. Some people have no hope to become better Zaki, I would say Max is one of them. I'm glad Allie has decided to support you, in your goals.

Gaara

P.S I will be in Konoha by your birthday(I looked it up in your file) what do you want?

-s-s-

Yamato came home from his morning session to the smell of Coffee. He was so glad he asked Moses to live with him. They got along well together and between the both of them they always had a cup of fresh coffee ready. Their schedules worked out well and neither of them was in the others way, they saw each other often enough, but not too often where it got uncomfortable. But he doubt he would ever be truly uncomfortable with her.

Moses was an amazing woman, and they had so much in common, Yamato would have asked her out. She made it quite clear she didn't like staying in one spot for very long and she would be leaving a week after the festival was over. Yamato was at the time in his life where he was ready to settle down, she wasn't so he stayed away from the romance and hoped to keep a strong friendship with the woman.

As he walked towards the bathroom to go pee, he heard a knocking on the door. Mosses must have forgotten her key. Walking towards his front door he looked through the small hole. A delivery man stood with a package in his hand. "Package for Yamato,"

"That's me," signing for the package, Yamato finally realized what it was. It was Zaki's birthday gift. He had ordered it a couple months ago. Opening the package Yamato smiled. It was a side pouch for a shinobi's belt, it had a seal on it so it could hold more than it looked. It was useful for hiding scrolls and such, or just extra trail rations. He figured it would be useful in the long run.

-s-

Kaida walked along the crowded square with her team mate Keiji. They were looking for a present for Zaki. Neither of them could afford a nice one on their own. "What do you think she would like?" Keiji asked as they stopped in front of a little trinket store.

"I don't know…" Kaida replied as she went into the shop. There was lots of little box's and stuff, with wall hangings… knick knacks lots of knick knacks…"I don't think knick knacks are her thing…"

"Should we get her a new Kunai set then?"

"Hn…"

Kaida looked at her team mate the Chunnin exam was 4 days away, Zaki's birthday was tomorrow. They hadn't gotten her anything. They had just found out yesterday, Yamato had told them. He was throwing a surprise party for her at her godmothers place.

Scrunching up her face Kaida put back the heart shaped frame she had in her hand. Who would buy such a thing? A kunai set would be nice, practical too, maybe kunai cleaner/ sharpener set. "Let's get her a weapon cleaning set, she probably needs one." Kaida concluded.

Keiji grunted in agreement. "So how's training going for you?" He asked all of the sudden as the exited the Kunai shop.

"A lot better than it was, my aim has improved a lot and so has my stamina, I don't get as tired as quickly."

"Do you work a lot with your Kekkia Genkai?"

"No, I haven't transformed once, it's all chakra control, and the…I'm hoping to get more practice with it, I mean it's my ace in the whole."

"That's all I'm doing with Hinata, is working on my Kekkia Genkai, to make it more stable and useful, I have to memorize charts or chakra points and work on little control. It's …." Keiji couldn't really finish his sentence he was just so frustrated with the research and the training, it was so small and boring. The research made his head hurt, the words would just all jumble up and move around, then they escape him. He had no chance of becoming a Chunnin, He just wanted to go down to the office and give up now. But he couldn't let Hinata down like that, she was so nice and encouraging. Not like her sister or cousin at all. But when he thought about it he really couldn't do it.

He huffed as he looked at the streets, Kaida was going the other way now, and he would have to walk to the library, to do more research. And read the same chapter on chakra points he had yesterday and the day before that, so he could memorize it. Hinata said he had to know that stuff, so he wanted to impress her. "Do you want me to take it home and wrap it?" He asked Kaida, she nodded.

"Thanks, I really have no room at my house, with all my dad research and all. He doesn't like me cluttering up the living room with my stuff." Kaida explained, her father had been really on edge lately and it was starting to worry her. She had a feeling that it was the tablet he had been translating, but he had all his files in such a way, where if she moved them he would know about it and she would get into a lot of trouble.

"I'll see you at, what place do we have to go too again?"

"The Zoo, it's a bar, in the middle of the dregs, the one with the broken window."

"That one, why are we hosting her birthday in that place?" He never liked the look of the place it always had strange people going in and out. But if that's where it was, then that's where it was. "Who's going to distract her from going to the zoo to early?"

"Oh that Kage, she always talks about is coming into town, Yamato's going to talk to him before his meetings, he will distract her." Kaida informed. "Didn't you know that, I mean it was Adara's idea."

Keiji shook his head, why was he always the one last to find out about these things? Well at least Zaki was getting a party. It seemed as though she barely celebrated birthdays.

The month of training really showed how driven everybody was. Adara was working with her father to improve her techniques to beat her brother. Hinabi and Lee were seemed to be in some sort of marathon to see who could get the farthest. The sand trio could be seen training. Kaida had always been driven, but the closer they got to the exam the more her eyes changed into a goal driven blue. Even Zaki seemed to be training towards something.

Keiji just didn't want to get left behind.

-kk- -

Max looked behind his shoulder, no…nobody was behind him. Getting up in the morning to go to work. Delton was ok, sometimes and Max was starting to get a hang of what he was doing. He marked his kunai though, in case Zaki ever stumbled across them, he would never forgive himself if she was hurt because of his job. It was important to make sure if the other countries were causing trouble faulty Kunai's would help Konoha.

At least that's what max keeps telling himself, he's doing this to be…patriotic. He at least has money in his pocket. Money to buy Zaki's present, which he hadn't gotten yet. Letting him in with the key Delton made for him. Max went to the reject pile he was working on. Going into the lounge Delton was already chipping away.

"Hey"

"Hello"

"Why you so blue max?"

"I'm just tired that's all…"

"OH COME ON! You have to be a better conversationalist then that, You barely ever talk. I mean there is one thing to have silence when you are all by yourself, it's a whole other thing. You are almost as bad as the guy I used to work with, he NEVER TALKED! Drove me insane, couldn't stand him."

This peaked Max's interest Delton had another co-worker before? "You worked with someone else?"

"what, you jealous…I'm sorry Max but you weren't my first!" Delton joked throwing his hands in the air dramatically. "But yeah I did work with the guy, he was a silent type smoked like a banshee."

Max thought about this for awhile, a sinking feeling started forming in his gut, he wondered what happened to him. What if 'they' had killed him, the shinobi that would follow Max around some times, what had he done? That he was no longer employed here… Delton was staring at him."Heh…sorry Delton…I'm just distracted. My gir….my friend is having a surprise birthday, she's turning 15 and well I didn't get anything for her."

"Ahhhh I see, have you tried the pawn shop at the very beginning of the dregs? You can get some really nice stuff there for cheap." Delton thrust's his wrist into Max's face, there was a gold watch. It looked old. The watch was bulky and a had a dim shine to them. There was a 3 hands, two of them shaped like regular hands, the other one looked crooked. Like a lightning bolt. That one was pointed towards the three which seemed to stick out more than the others. The 3, 6, 9 and 12 all had that looked. It seemed as they were painted on round iridescent rocks of some kind. It wasn't a pretty watch, it just looked …useful. "I got this thanks to my last colleague, you see one day he came to work and told me he sold his watch so he could buy his little girl a birthday present. I had always liked the watch so I went there after work and bought it, dirt cheap!"

"How much do you want for it?" Max asked suddenly.

Delton retracted his hand as though he had been bitten. "Oh, I don't know if I want to sell it, it has…sentimental value to me."

"You got it from a pawn shop, how much sentiment can it have?"

The older man scrunched up his face as he examined the watch he had on. "Well I don't know, I just kind of like it…"

"300 dollars" Max said it without thinking, 300 was his next pay check, he got 1 every 2 weeks and he could last on less than three hundred for a month. Stale crackers weren't new to him.

"That's 6 times the amount I paid for it!" Delton exclaimed "I couldn't accept that kind of money from a kid like you, it would make me feel guilty."

"150 then."

"well it has so much sentimental value…."

"200"

"It was a friends of mine's…"

"250"

"My first co-worker, he showed me around this joint."

Max was confused, what the hell was this loon trying to get at? "310?"

"Ohh that's too much"

"275"

"It has significant value to me"

"298"

Delton stopped and smiled, "we have a deal, 298 dollars, for a priceless watch! What a bargain, we can go to the bank when the pay checks come in, where I can give you your change. I mean it's just rude to take a man's whole pay check."

Max looked at the watch "Can you give it to me today?"

Delton again looked like he was being bit by a snake. "With no money upfront?"

"Yeah," Max said.

The grey haired man looked at max and then squinted, he seemed to be sizing the boy up for some reason, and then a big smile formed on his chapped lips. "Sure you can have it"

Max too the watch and stuffed it into his pocket.

-s-

"BUT DAD, IT'S MY FRIENDS BIRTHDAY!" Adara yelled, as she stomped down the stairs towards her father.

"I don't want you going to that part of town Adara, it's not safe there!" Her dad yelled back as he plopped on the sofa. They were walking back from training when she told him she was going to Zaki's surprise party.

"MOM said it was ok!"

"and what exactly did you ask your mother?"

"I asked her if I could go to a friend's birthday party tonight, and she said she was fine with it."

"I like how you conveniently forgot to mention, it's at a bar in the middle of the dregs."

"Her god mother owns it, and she's the one who is throwing the party, she asked Yamato to invite Zaki's school friends! If you don't want me walking alone I can go to Keiji's and walk to her party from there. Then Keiji can walk me home."

"I don't want you being at that place in the first place!"

Suddenly they heard the back door open,. "Adara, Shikaku, help me with the groceries!" It was her mom. Adara exhaled some air before stepping into the kitchen.

"MOM! Didn't you say I could go to Zaki's party tonight."

"Yes, could you keep the ground beef out I'm making hamburgers for dinner" Her mother handed her two bags and her father went outside to get more.

"Dad says I can't go."

Yoshino rolled her eyes and opened the door, "Shikaku, I told Adara she could go to this party two weeks ago."

"Did she tell you where it was?" Her father answered as he brought in a box filled with stuff, Adara meanwhile was putting all the groceries away.

As she opened the refrigerator door to put the cheese in she could feel her mother's eyes on her. "Where is the party Adara?"

"At a place her god mother owns…" the silence told her she better elaborate. "It's a place called the Zoo, dads freaking out because it's in the dregs, but I mean I'll walk there and back with Keiji, and when I am at the party there will be Yamato a jounin and teacher there, plus Naruto, plus the kazekage!"

"What's the Kazekage and Naruto doing there? Her mother asked in shock, I wouldn't think an establishment in the dregs would suite them."

"Naruto has been training with Zaki this past month, and The Kazekage saved her life at like the end of August and apparently they have been keeping a correspondence. Can I go, PLEASE?"

"Shikaku what do you think?" Her mother asked her father.

"I don't like it, I don't like the idea of her going down there at all"

"BUT IT'S MY FRIENDS BIRTHDAY! And I've been training really hard lately! I should get a break"

Her mother sighed and looked at her father, "If Keiji walks you there and back, and you don't leave the sight of Yamato-sensei I have no problem with it."

Shikaku shook his head in disagreement and Adara squealed for glee, "I'll go get ready then"

-s-

Gaara walked out of the short meeting with every intention of going quickly to the ramen shop to meet Zakuro as soon as possible. But his eyes couldn't help but be drawn to Naruto and the jounin Yamato waiting just outside.

"HEY GAARA!" Naruto yelled as he started waving his arms in the air to get his attention. Gaara smiled and gave a small hand wave, as he started walking towards the two. "Sorry Naruto, I already told another friend I would spend time with them." Gaara told him, he wasn't sure how the blonde would react if he told him it was Zakuro.

"Yeah, we know, you are hanging out with Zaki right?" Naruto replied grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes, Zakuro and I were planning on going out for dinner and talking." Gaara couldn't help but twitch his eyes a little, he didn't like how he frazed that statement, it just sounded too intimate. He was just going out to dinner with a friend, who happened to be female.

His grin turned mischievous, "Ok, so can I ask you a favor, We are having a surprise party for Zakuro, and we thought you could keep her away from the Zoo, that's the place her god mother owns…until about 7 o'clock so we can get ready for the surprise."

Gaara's eyebrows raised, "Am I invited"

"Well no duh! She wouldn't be having a birth day without you!" Naruto exclaimed as he slapped Gaara across the back in a friendly manner. "So will you do it?"

Gaara pursed his lips, Zakuro didn't seem like the type of girl that would like surprise parties, but if they were throwing one anyway, it's not like he could stop them. "Sure" he agreed.

As he departed from Naruto, Gaara couldn't help but ponder how odd his and Zakuro's relationship was. In no sooner than 2 weeks of getting to know each other and slew of letters written back and forth, she knew more about him than anyone. And she was still somewhat mysterious. He liked that. He liked how it all worked out, he liked having someone to talk to and not worry about pretenses.

Zakuro was sitting at the ramen shop, twiddling her thumbs, she was wearing dark pants, not as natty as some of her other pairs, she wore in Suna, and she wore the top that Gaara had given her. It was Temari's but it no longer fit his sister. "Hello Zakuro," He said as he sat in the chair next to her.

Zakuro looked up and smiled at him, she didn't try to hug him. That was really nice of her. "I was starting to worry that you lost your way."

"I've been here enough times with Naruto to know how to get here from the Hokage tower."

Zaki snorted a small smile on her lips "I know what you mean, I think ramen runs through the child's vain."

"I don't think you have a right to call anybody child, how old are you?"

"15, today"

"Naruto's 19 that means he's 4 years you're senior, you should show him respect"

"wow Gaara,"

"What"

"I never knew you could do basic math!" Gaara rolled his eyes, another thing he liked about Zakuro, was that she wasn't afraid to make him the butt of her jokes. Most people thought he was too sensitive for that.

Gaara felt a smile coming, and he was ok to let it show. It ended quickly then because he notice the shop keeper giving them the eye, they were taking up counter space and not buying anything. "The owner is starting to stare at us, do you want to eat here or somewhere else"

"Um… I don't know, where do you want to eat?"

"It's your birthday you should decide"

"Well I guess we can get out of here, I'm sick of ramen." Zakuro then stood up and Gaara followed.

-s-s-

Max wiped the tables one more time, the party was arriving soon. "What in good god's name possessed you to throw a surprise birthday for her?" he asked Allie, she was currently hanging up decorations.

"I don't know, that man…Yamato came in asking if I was throwing a birthday party for Zaki, and I didn't want to say 'no' because he had already ordered her gift. And trying to plan a party for Zaki with Zaki wouldn't have worked at all. So I came up with an idea for the surprise party."

"Well she's going to hate it!" The door opened and Sodo came in with a skip in his step. He was high.

"Hey guys! I didn't miss the party did I?"

"Sodo! I don't remember inviting you." Allie barked, as she through a rag at the degenerate.

"Heh, heard about it from Max over here, I've been Zaki's friend too, I'm hurt you guys didn't invite me. Just because she's been hanging with some upper class folks now doesn't mean she can forget those friends at the bottom!"

Max looked at the older women, Allie was getting paler and paler, she had gone out of her way for Zaki's other friends. They don't need to know about her past. She deserves to get a new start, she had worked hard for it. Allie had the urge to throw a chair at the junkie in front of her. He wasn't going to ruin Zaki's evening.

"Plus I'm here to tell you Jr. will be arriving with Tank and maybe a couple of others…" Sodo looked away from Allie, as she stared at him. He used to be so naive and have so much potential to do something. But no he fallen in the wrong crowd and this is what happened to him. A washed up druggie working for the local gang lord for his next hit.

"Ok, well the party doesn't start until 7, so unless you're going to help. Please leave" Max snipped, he knew how important this was to Zaki, it was her birth day after all and he knew she would be devastated if her Kazekage had to meet a druggie like Sodo.

This brought max a bitter taste in his mouth. Her Gaara was coming to Konoha for the exams and he would be coming to her party. Which mean he would be here, and Max would get to meet the guy. Zaki couldn't stop talking about. There was defiantly jealousy whenever he thought of that man. He seemed too good to be real. But no, it just bothered Max that he didn't see her as often anymore. But things change and he just hoped he wasn't one of the things to go. Sodo left soon after he heard Allie say the words help and work.

-s-

Yamato walked through the dregs as fast as possible, it was 6:45 he wanted to get there to help her god mother. Allie was a conundrum to him. She seemed to not want Zaki to be a shinobi, but she didn't want her staying in the dregs that was certain. It just seemed like nobody knew what Zaki really wanted, out of this. She was ready to become chunnin, Yamato knew it…but he would never tell her that. He didn't want her getting complacent.

Yamato would tell her that Naruto, was only a gennin like her, that she should be able to defeat him. And it was a basically a lie, Naruto was about jounin level with Kage level chakra, he wasn't supposed to be defeated by Zaki. But when he told her those things, she had such a resolve in her eyes to nock some sense into Naruto that it made Yamato want to egg her on more. His other teaching techniques didn't work. So he tried another, not so nice one. And it seemed to be working, different people respond differently.

As he walked into the bar, he saw the man named Max. His hair had gotten longer and he had it tied up behind him in a pony tail. The little fuzziest he used to have had given away to a full 5 o'clock shadow. His cheeks were no longer so round or boyish, they were high and hallow looking. His chin seemed to jut out more than it used to, and his eyes were still that shockingly deep blue.

The blue eyes looked at him and seemed to look past him for a minute as if somewhere else talking to somebody more important.

-s-

"MAX! stop dawdling and do something, people will be arriving soon. One's already here you no good lug!" Sara yelled in his head. She wasn't as a constant annoyance any more, but she still popped up, especially when it was something about Zaki. She was pestering him to put more decorations up. Max spun around to face the apparition.

She had eyes exactly like her daughters, that shockingly hazel. "Zaki won't like the decorations, there is no sense in putting them up." He replied as he moved a table to the wall, they had put three tables next to it for the wall, for the food Allie had prepared. Yamato walked up to Allie and they had started talking. Allie looked at him "Start getting the food, it's in the left fridge in the basement." Max nodded he looked at Sara to see if she was following.

"No way, I've never liked that basement it's creepy. You can go down there yourself." Sara then walked behind Yamato and Allie and listened to their conversation. Max rolled his eyes and headed down the stairs.

The basement had concrete floors and a feel of a horror movie. To the left barrels of Sake and other liquors to the right fire wood. Further down the hall past another door was the freezers. As Max walked he did a double take, there was a man on one of the barrels of sake.

It was the man he had met before he started working at the Kunai factory, except this time he seemed almost transparent and fuzzy, not nearly as solid as before. His grey hair was the same color as the walls. And his green eyes seemed to be the only thing with life around him.

"Hey max, I need to talk to you quick." The man said, his voice almost an echo, Max stepped closer.

"How did you get down here?"

"A lot of effort, but never mind that. I can't stay for long, can you tell Allie something for me."

"what?" Max was so confused what was happening, why was this guy straining so much to just stay put. Max had gotten used to the idea of ghost, but really only Sara's that seemed to be so solid she could hit him. This one seemed to almost dissipate before his eyes.

"Tell her, its time that she gets rid of those old letters." Then the man smiled at max, "by the way, Thanks for getting my watch back." And before Max could blink the grey haired man was gone. Shaking himself off Max continued to the freezer and loaded him up.

By the time he was back upstairs a blonde with spiky hair was chatting loudly with Yamato. A women with long red hair and a taller man with spiky blond hair was behind the first one. Max's heart sunk, before the women even made eye contact he could tell they were dead. That means they were not going to leave him alone the whole party.

"HEY MY NAMES UZAMAKI NARUTO!" the alive blond bounded towards him taking some casserole dishes from max to help him out. "What's yours?" The deep blue eyes widened in fascination as he looked at Max.

"Max." the naïve eyes kept on looking at him, "I don't have a family name."

"Oh…" Naruto pursed his lips as if trying to hold back a question. "Why's that?"

The boy was right in front of max at this moment and he couldn't get around him without looking rude. "because my mother was a prostitute that dumped me off at the nearest orphanage at the time."

The boy took a step back at Max's tone, he had the look of kids of killed shinobi all over him. They were better taken care of after their parents died, other shinobi would take care of them, and so they usually had nice apartments to grow up in. Max walked past him, Allie looked at him with a critical eye. She gave him the signal to come over towards her. Max gave a huff and walked over.

"Be nice to these people!" she spat, she was taking out a big bowl and some of her cooking supplies, "go get the cinnamon out of the cupboard."

Max went behind the bar and started looking through shelves, where was that dam cinnamon? As he was scrounging around on tip toes on the top cupboard his hands grabbed two envelops. Pulling them down he looked at the first name. It was in a small curvy letters it said: To Gai. The grey haired man has said something about letters. "Hey I found some old letters, you want me to throw them away, and they say To Gai and To Zaki?" Max asked non-challantly, he could feel Allie stiffen behind him and before he could try to open one she snatched them out of his hands.

"Give those to me, its rude to look at other people's mail." Her eyes were wide with shock as she looked at them, her hands were trembling. She quickly put them in her apron pocket. "The cinnamon is in the other cupboard Max."

-s-

Adara walked besides Keiji as they quickly went through the dregs. She was in her Shinobi gear, so was Keiji, people wouldn't mess with them that way. She looked at her tall friend he looked down at her. They both smiled at each other, Adara had to suppress a blush. "Trainings been going good?" She asked as she looked away.

"Ok"

"That's …good. Are you worried about your first battle?"

"Don't know….are you?" Keiji asked her, she was facing one of the sand trio, he kind of knew what Kristi was good at. Adara's was a complete mystery. Her face was looking at the ground and Keiji couldn't help but think she had a cute profile.

"well I can only hope you know?"

"Yeah…So what did you get Zaki?" Keiji asked, he had the kunai cleaner in one of those decorative bags with the tissue paper to make it look nice. He was horrible at wrapping presents.

"Ugh Kunai cleaner," Adara replied as she showed him a small wrapped box with balloon print on it. "What did you get her?"

"…Kunai cleaner, Kaida and I pulled our money together to get her 2 big jars of the stuff."

"I only got her one big jar."

"Well now we know what not to get her for Christmas…" Keiji said. Each jar was supposed to last 6 months.

They met Kaida right before going into the bar. It was decorated with a banner on the wall that said "Happy Birth day Zaki" Hanging from it, two big bundle of balloons was soon going to be joined with by a third that Yamato and Naruto were making. Her god mother was nowhere to be seen and the blond man from before was sweeping.

Naruto was the first to see them and he waved happily, his face red from concentrating on blowing a red balloon bigger than his face. Yamato waved and smiled as he tied a string to an end of a balloon Naruto just blew. "Hey guys!" He said smiling. "come and help us with these balloons."

"We are going to cover the whole ceiling with them!" Naruto exclaimed.

Max turned around sharply, "Three bundles is quiet enough, she doesn't like a lot of decorations." Quickly biting his lips realizing his tone. "Sorry, um …yeah….Allie should be back with the cake soon…"

"Did she buy one?" Adara said looking around, everything looked so grimy, she was afraid to sit down.

"No she's baking it upstairs, theirs uh…no oven at the bar." Max responded.

He then quickly turned around sharply and swatted something away, "URGH get away!" the blond man growled. He then stopped and looked at them, "Uhhh…flies." He quickly went back to sweeping.

-s-s-

That red headed women was more annoying than her son. "You can talk to him for us!" She yelled in his ear as he swept. "You can tell him how much we love him can't you?" She was clinging to him now. This was really pissing Max off "URGH get away!" He swatted at her for her to stop touching him. Stopping as he realized the others saw him, he made up a lie quick. "Uhhh….flies."

The older blond man put a hand on his wife shoulder, "Kushina, what do you expect him to do? Go up to a complete stranger and give him a hug and tell him that his parents love him?"

"Thank you" Max yelled in his head. The red head wasn't so easily tamed though.

"Well we've finally found someone who can talk to us, we can use that to talk to our son!" She had started crying. Oh dear Max felt guilt coming over him. But what could he do about it? It wasn't his fault the lady died while her son was a child.

"sorry I can't help you" max told them, it was one thing for Sara to bug him he knew her, then there was the grey haired men, he just gave advice. Now there were these two, whining that they wanted to talk to a son that Max did not know. And wanted no pleasure of knowing.

"You should help them!" Sara had appeared again. "Hello, my names Sara…oh my god, you're the 4th Hokage!" She shrieked as she pointed at the blond haired man.

"It's your duty to help these two max, that one was a Hokage, she informed him as though he hadn't just heard her."

"The kage's can go suck their nonexistent balls for all I care!" He shot back in frustration. Why did he have a duty to a position that had done nothing for him and never would?

"Hey can someone help me with this cake?" Allie called from the stairwell. The tall boy on Zaki's team rushed and took it from the small women. "Thank you put it on that table over there."

"There's no frosting on the cake!" The little ginger exclaimed.

Max and Allie answered in unison "Zaki doesn't like frosting"

"Oh"

Yamato looked at his watch, "Ok its 6:55" we should all hide, Gaara should be coming with Zaki any minuet.

…s…..s..

Gaara had never laughed so hard in his life. He could feel tears forming at the corner of his eyes, he was laughing so hard. Zaki was laughing just as hard beside him. They had decided to take a walk through Konoha after going to eat some Tempura. They had seen a guy chase after a girl just to fall into her breasts, when Zaki started giggling, then Gaara couldn't help but chuckle, and it increased from there. The more he laughed the more Zaki laughed.

He heard Zaki take a deep intake of breath as though she was drowning, "Oh my gosh I have to stop laughing…I feel like I can't breathe." She admitted. Gaara took a similar breath, looked at his watch it was almost 7.

"Oh we have to go" Gaara said as he stopped laughing. Zaki pulled herself together and smiled at him.

"Why?"

"Well, other people are throwing a surprise party for you and they told me to bring you around 7, and it's around 7."

Her face sobered up, "what?" She snapped.

"They are throwing you a party, at the your god mothers bar, I'm supposed to take you there." He informed her starting to walk towards town.

"When was I going to be informed of this?" She asked walking faster to catch up.

"When you got there."

As they walked back into town, Gaara had to face the uncomfortable fact he had no idea where he was going. Stopping he turned to Zaki who looked flustered. "Where are we going?"

"The Zoo," Gaara didn't respond, it took her a while to realize he knew that. A small blush crept up on her face.

"You don't have to go…its kind of far away, a person of your stature shouldn't be seen in that area. Thanks for the walk though it was really nice!" She tried to get away from him, Gaara quickly blocked her.

"Nonsense, I love cake" Gaara told her, "Now where is it."

Bowing her head in defeat "let me show you" They headed towards the dregs.

-s-

Keiji was waiting just like everyone else in the bar, the lights were turned off. They heard the door creek open right before the lights turned on. "SURPRISE!" he yelled with Adara and Kaida, the others just spoke it. As Keiji saw the look on his team mates face he couldn't help but feel that this was a bad idea. Zaki's face was fighting off a scowl as she looked at the decorations. The older blonde boy named Naruto caught on right away.

"You told her didn't you Gaara!" he accused. That's when Keiji Noticed the menacing man behind her, he had blood red hair and a strikingly maroon eyes. He had a love tattoo on his forehead. This must be Gaara. He was shorter then Keiji expected. The Kage shrugged at the blonde.

"Was I not supposed to tell her?" Gaara asked, the crowd. He could feel others head shake no behind him. "oh" Zaki was still looking around in semi shock. Her godmother was the first to go up to her, and hug her.

"Happy Birthday," The hug ended and Allie kept the younger and taller girl in her arms. "Now I know you don't like parties, and you don't like surprises. But I think after all your achievements you deserved a party, and planning one with you is like pulling teeth." Zaki nodded and hugged her god mother again. The stranger and the blonde were talking adamantly. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Keiji decided to walk up to the older boys.

The red head stopped and looked at him, as the blonde kept talking. "H-hi.' He said trying to get in the conversation. Standing next to them he realized how short the Kazekage was. The red head came up to only halfway to his shoulder. The blond at least got up to his chin. "My n-names um, Keitarus Keiji. I'm Zaki's team mate." He extended his hands in greetings the red head blinked.

"Oh don't worry about it!" Naruto exclaimed, "He doesn't shake hands."

Gaara nodded his head lightly. "hello"

"Hello" He heard his voice break a little, and he could feel the blush form on his cheeks. "My name is Keiji, I'm Zaki's team mate. And I-uh I and hm" As he looked down on those intimidating eyes he forgot his train of thought. "Wanted to thank you for saving Zaki, from the river and all." Keiji felt like an idiot, the blue green eyes kept staring.

"You are welcome" he stated. Keiji backed off and scanned the room, Adara and Kaida were in line to talk to Zaki, he should go over there.

-s-s-

Max was keeping to the back of the group, her team mates had gone up to her with Allie. The Naruto boy and the Kazekage were talking. The Kage looked more like a boy then Max had imagined. His pale round face was very feminine. His hair was an obnoxious red, the kind of red that had to be dyed. And it looked like he got make up tips from a raccoon. He was also a lot shorter then Max had pictured him. As he saw her team mates and sensei go towards the food table so did the other two. Max went up to her.

"Sorry," he said right away. "I tried to tell them to keep it low on the balloons." Zaki didn't look at him he head was bent in thinking.

"That's ok." And before he was even ready she flung herself at him, giving him a big hug. Max smiled to himself, "I've missed you too." He started feeling wetness on his shirt. She was crying. Leaning in closer to her ear he whispered, "It's going to be ok."

"ARE WE GOING TO EAT THIS CAKE OR NOT!" the Naruto boy yelled. Zaki wiped her eyes and smiled.

"Sorry, we're coming" Zaki replied finally letting go of Max.

"Why isn't there frosting on the cake?" The blond asked.

"Because I don't like frosting." Zaki answered as they crowded around. Allie started cutting the cake, and placing them on plates.

"does everyone want a piece?" Allie asked.

"Yes" was the general murmur.

"Hey are we going to sing happy birthday?" The blond asked.

"NO!" Zaki interrupted before he could finish. "I'm sorry I hate that song."

"AWW COME ON! FIRST YOU DON'T LIKE CAKE, NOW YOU EX THE BIRTHDAY SONG!" he whined.

"Shut up Naruto" A gruff voice commanded, it was the boy-Kage "It's her birthday." He then nodded to Allie as she handed him a piece of cake.

Zaki's face brightened. "Oh Max, I haven't introduced you to Gaara" The grey haired girl then lead him by the hand to the red head. "Gaara this is Max, Max, Gaara." Max nodded his head in respect. He felt the cold aqua marine eyes look him up and down, and then at his and Zaki's hands as Max was still holding it.

"Hey Gaara, Zaki talks a lot about you."

-s-

His voice was a clear baritone, Gaara noticed as he talked to the dirty blond. His hair was disheveled and he wasn't cleanly shaven. His face was very square and his chin protruded out a little to form a clef. His eyes were a deeper blue's than Naruto's. He was holding Zaki's hand, unnecessarily. The girl didn't seem to mind though…

"Well, that's kind of her. She mentions you a lot also…Max-san" There was no reason not to be formal.

Zaki had left to get cake and talk to Her god mother. The deep blue eyes stared at him, Gaara knew Max was judging him just as hard as he judged Max. "We should thank you, None of this would have happened if you hadn't saved her." There was a silence falling between them, Gaara kept his eyes on the blue ones. They showed emotions easily. There was a sadness in them, "especially me, I …couldn't have, It was a very dark time here, when we heard about the accident. A lot of things would have…Just I really want to thank you. And I mean that." When their eyes met, there was an understanding between them. Gaara just nodded and turned away towards his cake. Gaara wasn't lying before, he really loved cake.

Gaara's eyes traveled to the room. Yamato was getting everyone's gifts out and Zaki was talking to the other girl her age. The girl her age looked like somebody Gaara knows, and it was bothering him that he couldn't place it. She had a certain face, but the hair was different. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw a small tangle of red hair behind him. He didn't even notice she was behind him. That was rare.

"You're a Kage aren't you?" she demanded.

"Yes"

"Do people ever look down on you because you're young?"

"yes"

"How do you get over it?"

"Ignore them" or kill them he added privately to himself.

"Even when they are really annoying, and act as though your 7"

Gaara had to think of that answer, when people doubted him they generally kept it private for fear of him lashing out at them. "Show them you are not 7"

The girl scrunched up her face, "Hey I'm Kaida, Zaki's team mate." She stretched out her hands and took his without his permissions shaking it thoroughly before dropping it. Gaara was about to answer she interrupted, "You are Gaara the Sand Kazekage." He just nodded.

"Was it hard being a child prodigy?"

Gaara's eyes twitched, "you could say that."

"Ok everyone time for presents." Yamato announced bringing them all out. Gaara's noticed how Zaki's hazels eyes widened at the tiny gifts coming out. He knew that look, he felt it the first time his siblings celebrated Christmas with him.

"Open mine first!" Naruto demanded. He handed Zaki a poorly rapped jar. Zaki carefully opened it.

"Kunai cleaner, Thanks Naruto" The next present was the brunette her age. Zaki opened the box. "Kunai Cleaner, Thanks Adara."

Then it hit him the girl was Nara's little sister. The really tall boy quickly handed a bag to Zaki. "Kaida and I got these for you."

Zaki stuck her hand in the bag, and pulled out a jar, then another. "Two more jars of Kunai cleaner, ok guys I get the point. I'll take better care of my Kunai," the grey haired girl then barked a laugh.

"Mine next," Yamato said handing her a box. She opened it, a small black pouch was inside. It looked like just a regular kunai pouch, but Gaara new better. It had a seal on the bottom that let it carry more then what it looked like. "Those pouches there nice for long missions, because you can carry more food rations in them, and you don't have to worry about the extra weight. But I have to warn you, don't carry a lot of your weapons in there, because it's hard to reach for them." Yamato explained.

Zaki smiled "Thank you-"

"DID WE MISS THE CAKE?" a new voice asked, it came from the door way. Gaara spun around, it was Uchiha Sasuke! But a lot twitchier then Gaara remembered.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered. The stranger spun around.

"Where?" then turning around he spas med a little "Oh, no, my names Sodo. I'm a friend of Zaki's. I don't know any Sasuke" He ran his hands through his hair and pulled his sleeve down a little. He was talking really fast, and was really jumpy. "Hey Zaki happy birthday!"

Gaara looked towards the grey haired girl and she was as still as a rod, so was her god mother and Max. The Sasuke impersonator went straight for a piece of cake. Two more people entered. The first one to come in was about medium hair, smallish build, brown hair and brown eyes. He was in a nice business suit. "Happy birthday Zakuro" The voice slithered. Allie rushed to get a piece of cake. "No cake for me Ms. A."

The older lady straightened up, "I was getting one for tank"

That's when Gaara noticed the monster of a man behind the suit one. He would make Chouji look small. "Ahhh" the bass voice boomed, "Thanks Ms. A, Happy birthday by the way little Z" Allie went over to the two men and gave the big one a huge piece of cake. As she passed the smaller one, he said something in a whisper that made Allie turn around and reply sharply. She quickly moved back to the table.

"Unfortunately I have to leave soon for business, so I'm here to give you this Zaki" The man slinked over towards Zaki. He pulled out of his breast pocket an envelope. Zaki was staring at him like he was going to hit her. He grinned at her, and gently tapped the tip of her nose with the envelop. "This is for you, so you can remember your old friend Jr., especially when you become a chunnin, understand?" He then handed her the letter, which she took with trembling hands.

The man, 'Jr.' Gaara was pretty sure he said that was his name. Well Jr. Straightened up and nodded towards Max, who just nodded back. "I'll see you all later." His voice suddenly became strong "Sodo, let's go!"

"But boss I was-"

"NOW!"

The twitchy Sasuke look alike, put his plate down and followed the other two out the door. "Yes boss". A silence fell on the room and Gaara looked at the others, Yamato eyes were moving from the door towards his student in worry. Kaida hugged herself, the tall boy had moved in between the Nara girl and the three strangers.

Allie was the first to break the silence "Do we have any more gifts?"

"Yes" Gaara Then dug down in his side pouch to pull out a brown package wrapped in string.

Zaki shook her head "I couldn't take anything more from you Gaara," She insisted. Gaara didn't want to hear any of that.

"I got it for you, believe me I would have no use for it, so please take it." He insisted. Zaki took the package.

_-s-sA_

Max looked at the package Gaara handed Zaki, it was rather big. Her dainty hands started untying the strings to it. Max didn't know what to think of the red head. He seemed like a very strange and serious guy. Zaki usually hated guys like that, guys who thought they were too good to show emotions. He was just like that, but in her eyes, Max saw only admiration. Max heard Zaki gasp. She pulled up a beautiful piece of clothing up.

It was a Kimono. Max heard the girl Adara and Allie booth oo in delight. It was black mostly, with dark violet butterflies, they looked like they were flying and leaving a trail of the same purple a little behind them. The Obi was a darker purple. Max's hand went instinctually to the watch in his pocket. What was his watch compared to that kimono.

"Gaara" Zaki whispered, "You shouldn't…this is too much" She tried giving the package back to the Kazekage. He held up his hands in protest.

"No, I don't have any use for it. Keep it" His voice was stern and cold, but it didn't take a genius to hear the compassion in it.

A little voice in Max's head wanted to rip it out of Zaki's hand and stomp on it violently, but then he saw her face. She was so happy; it had been a while since Max had seen it like that. Well if that Kage made her happy, then maybe max should just be happy for her.

It took all his effort but he smiled at the red head. Zaki's eyes twinkled, "Thank you Gaara, for everything"

Allie looked at her watch, "Oh my, it's almost 9:30, I'm sorry but I need to be open by 10" She looked at all the outsiders. "Max and I can take care of this you can all leave. Zaki why don't you go walk them to the outside of the dregs?"

"I should be getting to bed soon!" the blond stretched his muscles; he grinned hugely at Allie and Zaki. "I'll see you tomorrow Zaki, Thank you for the Meal Allie-San"

The woman and the man behind Naruto had been quiet during the party, Max was very thankful for that. They waved goodbye to him. And there was a feeling of guilt set in. In the end it was not his problem. Dead people should just learn to stay dead and quiet.

Yamato smiled at the blond, "I should probably leave with him, good bye Zaki, and tomorrow…5:30 sharp. No exceptions"

"Urgh I have to go!" The little one whined, "My parents want me home by 10."

"I'll walk you home Kaida," Keiji the really tall boy offered.

"I'll go with you two; Kaida's house is on the way to mine anyway." The brown haired girl said. She smiled and waved at them, "This was really fun, we should do it again sometime" And before max could really blink, it was only Allie, Zaki, him and the red headed Kage.

"Gaara do you need somebody to show you the way out of the dregs?" Zaki offered. The grey haired girl looked at Allie and Max, her eyes still with that happy twinkle. "Do you guys need me to stay here and help?"

Max felt blood rush to his ears, she seemed to really like that rich boy. "Go ahead Zaki, Max and I can stay here and get ready."

"Ok thanks!" She then tilted her head in the direction of the door to the boy. He nodded yes and followed. Max was sure his face was red with anger.

"You're jealous!" Sara had come up and shouted in his ear, Max had to jump a little from the noise. "I think you should just accept the fact that, he's better than you."

"Go away!" He hissed.

"what is your problem today?" Allie asked him. "wait let me rephrase that, what has been your problem for the past month?"

"There's no problem, sorry I was just, uh talking to myself."

"Well stop it!"

-s-

The day had gone well, Zaki had taken it better than Allie had hoped. Oh gosh she was 15, her little Zakuro was 15. She was all grown up, and going to be a chunnin. A weight pulled her down and she had to put the chair down she was holding. Those envelops, they were written by Zack, she had received other envelop to Gai when Allie was ready. She tried to purposefully forget about them. Zaki hadn't been ready, but she was going to be a Chunnin soon. Zack would have been so proud. His little girl was making Chunnin, just like Gai.

_The cigarette slowly burned out on the ash tray, and the music in the background was a whisper of guitarre. It was a hot humid day and Allie felt her cloths stick to her skin. She watched a small patch of grey hair play with an old watch, the small fingers trying to make the hands go faster. The little girl giggled and licked the face of the watch. She quickly made a face after she realized that it wasn't food. She then held it out towards Allie_

_A chuckle escaped out from the man beside her, his green eyes sparkled as they looked at his little daughter playing with his watch. "Zaki what do you want her to do with it?" He asked lovingly. "Honey can you give it back to daddy?" The toddler tried standing up but fell back on to her diaper. "Did you fall down?" The little one nodded her head yes. "You want to try again?" The little one nodded her head no. _

_Allie laughed as she saw the determination in the green eyes beside her. He bent down on his knee's "come on honey walk to Daddy!" holding his arms out ready to catch her if she were to fall. The little girl shook her head no again. Sticking the watch back in her mouth. _

_A thought struck Allie as she asked "Hey did you get that job at the Kunai factory?" _

"_Yeah I did, I told the man I had a little girl to raise, so he gave me the night/early morning shift…I uh start the machines in the morning for the factory workers."_

"_Good pay?"_

"_Decent enough, and chance for promotion, at least that's something." He sniffed the air and raised his hands to his noise, "Zaki! Did you make a stinky?" She giggled and bit the watch one more time. "Yes you did!" In one fluid motion the man picked up his daughter and checked her diaper. "Allie could you hold the girl while I go get the changing supplies?" He asked her._

"_Sure, give the little rascal to me," she soon felt a little girl in her arms. She looked at the hazel eyes in the childs eyes, they were her mothers. They seemed older and sadder than an eighteen month old could handle. In a reflex Allie scrunched up her face at the babe. Zaki responded in kind. "I'm always surprised how much she looks like her mother," She shouted towards Zack. _

"_Yeah, I know it's kind of like Sara is just wearing a grey wig."_

"_Oh she has more than that from you, she has your sense of…" Zaki gave off a big fart, then started laughing again, "humor." _

"_Oh but she's going to be smarter than I or her mother are." Zack took her from Allies hand and placed her on a changing mat. _

"_She gets that from me."_

_He chuckled, "I thought she got your stobborness to stupidity."_

"_No that would be-" She stopped herself before she could finish that sentence. He had left exactly 3 years 6 months and 6 days ago. He hadn't called her, he hadn't come by, well he did come by to pick up his clothes. Maybe she shouldn't have set them all on fire, but then again she didn't even see him that day. So it didn't count. _

_She felt a hand on her's "He'll come back, I mean its Gai! Allie, he always comes back." _

_Allie looked away, no he wouldn't come back, he came back for his clothes he was too busy being a high class shinobi to stop and chat with the people he owed it too. She had stood by him all the way to the top, but when he got there it was him who dropped her like a sack of moldy potatoes. She had worked double shift and kept the Zoo going. She had smiled and encouraged him when he was down. She did all of that for him. And he, had the gull to accuse her of cheating on him. To assume that she was sleeping with men who came to the Zoo regularly, like she was a common prostitute. _

_Than a week after that accusation came out and him sleeping on the floor. She was pulling a double shift that night. And was greeted by a beautiful red haired konoichi and informed her that she was here to tell one Might Gai that he was needed by the Hokage. Then after Allie informed her that he was not in upstairs at the moment. The red head asked non-chalantly if she could see his apartment. Allie said that Gai's roommate wouldn't agree. The red head looked shocked. She swore that during one of their missions he said he lived alone above a bar. Then the red head goes on to admit that she wasn't actually here for a mission, she was here to talk to Gai. About their encounter during their last mission. _

_Allie of course being curious when she saw the obvious blush on the skinny girls face, asked what encounter. The girl promptly sat down and explained to her that after months of flirting and feeling kind of awkward with him, a heated moment during a mission turned into a heated night of passion. And as she explained Allie stood there, a fool. She stood there and listened to a love sick girl talking about HER husband. How she would talk to him, and it seemed like she knew him so much. She had such a deep connection it's was like they knew each other their whole lives. Except the perky petite red head didn't even know that the supposed love of her life, had a wife. And she was talking right too her! _

"_He's never coming back, Zack. That's a pipe dream, he's moved on to better things. He doesn't need us anymore." _

_Zack looked at her as he stood up, his little daughter in his arms. "Well he at least needs to come back to see his God daughter."_

"_Did you even tell him she was born?"_

"_I tried giving the message to his building manager, he was out at the time."_

"_He hasn't gotten back in 18 months Zack, he's not coming now."_

"_He's probably still on a mission." _

"_Still on a mission, sounds like Gai for you."_

_The little girl was resting her head on his shoulder, a small yawn escaped her. Zack looked down at his little girl and smiled. "I want her to meet him, they probably won't get along at first. But, they will eventually. I want her to be like him-Without the whole cheating thing. I want Zaki to leave the dregs, or at least be able to choose where she lives. My family's been stuck here since the beginning of Konoha, Sara's family has been stuck here. You got to have 10 years freedom when you were little Allie. Gai had a shred of light. He went to the academy, he was talented. His sensei looked after him. He had a way out. He took it, I can't blame him. If you live in this place for too long, it's like suffocating on mustard gas. The sweet smell gives off hope for a home, but you are actually slowly11 dying. I don't want my little girl to die."_

-kk-

As Max waited he felt his heart keep sinking, how long would it take them to get out of the dregs. The kimono lay neatly folded, on top of the pile of Kunai cleaners. He debated weather or not he could sell the watch back to Delton, he would probably lose a bit of money. But after that Kimono, why would she like his gift. She would look beautiful in it though.

Zaki came back a smile plastered on her face and a small blush on her cheeks. Max felt like something was anger rise in his stomach. He really did not like that Gaara. "I'm glad to see you guys tidied up without me." She announced as she opened the pouch Yamato gave her and started putting the jar's of kunai cleaner inside. She stopped when she came to the envelope that Jr. gave her. She hadn't opened it when company was around. She opened it to pull out a check. A snarl replaced her happy features and she ripped the check up right in front of them. "I don't need money that badly." She stated as she threw the pieces into the trash.

"Your friends are very nice Zaki." Allie stated, Max could see she reached for the envelops in her pocket. "I especially liked that Gaara, he was quite something…" Her words were slow as though she was choosing them carefully. She went up to her god daughter and hugged her, "Just be careful, around him… I'm not exactly sure what his intentions are with you."

Zaki pulled away, "Gaara's not like that! He's a friend, that's all."

"I can see that, just be careful…Just remember you have choices." Allie said. She finally took the envelop out of her pocket. "Open this when you are at home and alone." The grey haired girl look confused, but nodded, she placed it on the top of her pouch.

Stuffing his pockets with his hands, Max looked at the ground. "Do you want somebody to walk you home Zaki?" He knew the answer would be no, but asking just seemed like the polite thing to do.

"Yes," Max looked up, did she just agree. The grey haired girl shrugged "we really haven't had time to talk a lot" Max nodded in agreement. Allie seemed to be off in her own world as she looked at the other letter.

"Bye Allie" Zaki called as she placed the pouch on her side, and picked up the Kimono package delicately, and walked out of the store. Max quickly followed.

He walked behind her a few steps, the moon was out, and she was beautiful. The white light shined down on the two walking. She stopped and let him catch up. The smile she had worn almost all night was on her face again. "So, you had a nice walk with Gaara?" He asked, "He seems to really like you."

She rolled her eyes, "Not you too! We are only friends why can't people realize that?"

"I'm just saying, rich men don't really give expensive presents to young girls…unless they are expecting something from them in return."

Zaki furrored her brows, "Gaara's not like that, he's a generous he likes giving things to people. He's not playing on any angle. Plus he's a Kazekage not allowed to date outside of the villiage."

"I don't think he would be interesting in dating but-"

"WOULD YOU STOP IT!" She interrupted, "he's not asking for anything in return Max. Nothing, some people outside of the dregs help others because its kind, not because they are looking at getting anything out of it."

"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news Zaki, but people aren't like that. They are always looking to gain something."

"Yeah the people in the dregs, if you had any interaction with real people outside of that you would see that. But you are stuck here in this god-forsakin part of town."

"If you hate your home that much why don't you just leave?" Max shouted out of bitterness. If she wanted to move on, if she felt she was too good for them, then let her leave.

"Gaara says that I should sell the house and move to the apartment complex's Naruto lives in. It would be more conducive to my training." She shot back.

"Well I guess if your precious Gaara says to do it, I guess you have to!"

Zaki stopped and looked down on the ground, maybe he shouldn't have said that. "I don't want to leave." She whispered. "That's why I wanted to talk to you, I don't like how we are growing apart."

"I don't like it either." Zaki looked at him her hazel eyes glowing. They were side by side, she was looking up at him. "I don't want to fight." He admitted.

"Gaara and I had a …ar...we didn't really argue, it was more of discussion. He says that my letters have gotten sadder the more I talk about home. He says if I'm not happy I should move on. But I can't leave this place. The world outside, its, its not for me. I want to stay here. And I want to be happy, and I want to continue being a shinobi, and I don't want to choose between my home and my career, but I'm tired of feeling lonely. I go to that house, and there's nothing there, I sleep on the floor in the living room because I don't like any of the bedrooms. But I'm not leaving that house. It's my family's home. It's just so empty that I dread going there every night" Her nostrils flared as she looked down on the ground biting her lip. A determination fell over her, Max had never seen that look before, "I want you to move in with me Max."

"what?"

"Yeah, I mean it makes sense, you have the furniture, I have the house, you won't have to pay rent anymore. And I don't know, we could fix up my place a bit." '

Max couldn't believe what he was hearing. Live with Zaki? "Like a couple?" He didn't know if he was excited or petrified.

"Well…together, I don't know what you want to call it, but right now I'm just going to say together." She held out her hand, and max took it in his.

"I guess, we should go home then."

"Yeah let's go home"

**I KNOW KAIDA AND KEIJI WERE BARELY MENTIONED IN THIS CHAPTER! I'M SORRY IT WAS SUPPOUSED TO BE FOCUSED ON ZAKI! I PROMISE NEXT CHAPTER IS THE START OF THE THIRD CHUNNIN EXAMS AND THEY ARE BOTH GETTING THERE OWN THINGS TOO! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!**


	37. Nothing Personal

Gai woke up, pulling back his comforter, he noticed he was alone, like usual. Getting up he groaned his way into the bathroom as he started washing his face, he then created his shaving cream, and got his straight razor out. He knew they were more dangerous than just getting the disposable ones. But they provided a cleaner cut. He was a shinobi anyway he should know how to handle a blade. Today was the Last chunnin exams; he was going down to see how Zack's daughter did. He couldn't believe that Zack had a daughter and he didn't know about her until now. Poor girl had to deal with a father who was a drug addict, and a mother who became one. Both of them killed themselves too, she had nobody. Except Allie… Gai used to have Allie, but love is a fickle thing.

_Gai was home from his first 5 month mission, he wanted two things when he got home. To make passionate love to his wife, and to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness. During the mission there was another women, her name was Lori. She was a slim red head that Gai sometimes worked with, well one night, another member of their special team just died, Gai and her had time to go drinking. And that had lead to a night of sex. He felt so guilty in the morning, he had never told Lori he was married, he never told anybody in his squad. He liked to keep Allie secret; it was like she was his jewel that got him through horrible situations. Only he could see her, if none of his shinobi friends knew about her, then she couldn't be tainted with the bloodshed shinobi carried with them. _

_So for the rest of the mission Gai had avoided Lori, and that wasn't fair to her, she didn't know what he had done. She would have never lunged if she knew he was married. It was all Gai's fault. That night made him really Miss Allie, everything about her. Her curves, her neck, her smile, her eyes the way she laughed when he reached that certain place. The way, afterwards she would lean on his chest and study him until he fell asleep. He missed her so much, and if he could take back that night he would. _

_Stepping into the zoo he noticed it was packed, because it was a Friday night. Allie was pouring a beer for an Uchiha shinobi sitting at the bar, his lips were curled in a smirk. She had a blush on her face. Hundreds of things ran through Gai's head as he saw the two, Men spoke vulgar to Allie all the time, she never blushed. She gave the shinobi his beer and quickly stepped away to scan the room. A couple other men were holding up there glasses asking for refills of their drink. She nodded at them, as she filled her tray with their order. As she stepped out of the bar, the uchiha gave her a pinch; she stepped away and acted like it never happened. Finally she spotted Gai in the fray of the people. Like a business women she walked over to him. "I'm glad your back Gai." Her smile was small, and Gai noticed dark circles under her eyes. He went to go kiss them away with everything else she was feeling, she stopped him._

"_I'm sorry you are going to have to wait for that, Auntie is sick and I'm stuck running the bar for tonight-"_

"_HEY LADY WHERE IS MY FUCKIN DRINK?" A drunk yelled. _

"_I'm sorry Gai, I don't have time to talk, and I'll come home as soon as I can get them out of here." Gai again leaned down for a kiss, she moved quickly. "It gets the drunks riled up if they see me with a guy, you look tired you should go up to bed and sleep. I promise I'll be up there as soon as I can." Gai looked at her and gave her elbow a squeeze of affection, and headed towards their small apartment._

_There little bed squeaked when he laid out on it. The bed squeaking was new, but then again everything squeaked. He sighed, the dishes weren't clean. She never cleaned the dishes right after she ate so they ended up getting rotten. At least he could do something while waiting for her. As he ran the water, Gai realized the water heater was broken. Turning off the water, he went to the stove one of the burners; the left one was also broken. Sitting down the table wobbled again. Taking a deep breath Gai wondered if any of his other compatriots had to deal with this when they got home. A squeaky bed, frozen water, broken stove, table, a wife who constantly gets harassed and does nothing about it. _

_Gai took a deep breath through his nose, and exhaled slowly. His commander said that he was going to be promoted to Jounin soon, if he kept up the good work. This would let him get enough money for him and Allie to move out, even start a family. He imagined a small boy with Allies delicate chin and high cheek bones, and his colored hair, her eyes. Actually Gai thought to himself honestly. It would be better if the kid looked like their mother, then they wouldn't be made fun of. _

_The door opened sooner than he ever thought and there she was. Gai went to her as fast as possible, and pulled her into him. Kissing the top of her head he smelled her shampoo. It was nothing fancy, no lily of the valley or lilac of the forest; it was musty old pine and sandal wood, with a lingering hint of alcohol. She clung to him and started shaking. _

"_I've missed you." _

"_I missed you too." They stayed like that for another 5 minutes standing there in silence. She was the one to break first, "I didn't know you were coming home tonight, I would have done the dishes."_

_On instinct Gai closed his arms around her again, "That's ok we can do them tomorrow, I have a whole week for just you." _

_Allie kept on trailing off, her mind was somewhere else Gai could see it."I meant to get a new burner, and the beds squeaky, I let Zack and Sara stay for a week when they were between apartments. That's why the bed is squeaky, I should have fixed it already, I'm sorry. I know how you hate when things are broken. I can go…"_

_Gai kissed her. She was so beautiful. It took her awhile but eventually she melted into his kiss. Gai tightened his grip around her waist, he felt her small hands grab the front of his shirt and pull him towards her. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He finally got that stupid apron off of her, to start removing the shirt. As that fell to the floor he felt her soft skin, all the way down. She leaned into his body for heat as they broke apart for air. Her face was in a blush, and Gai felt his heart burst from his body, "I love you Gai" She whispered as she stared into his eyes directly. _

_Suddenly he felt his mouth moving, he wanted to tell her exactly what happened, but maybe after he showed her how much he loved her. Lifting her ups so she could cross her legs around his waist Gai carried her to the bedroom. _

_He lay there painting on their mattress, in the middle of the session the bed frame broke. That didn't stop them though. Next was his favorite part, this is where Allie would turn around and put her elbows on his chest and study him until he was asleep. Or at least until she thought he was asleep. He liked to look at her as she fell asleep. But tonight she didn't, she turned away from him, and pulled the covers over her shoulder. Gai looked at her, this was very different. Her small frame started shaking. He placed his hand on her delicate shoulder. "What's wrong?" _

_She inhaled a long breath and started shaking again, she was sobbing. She placed a hand on his. "I just…missed you so much Gai." She started breaking down more. "While you were away I was…I was…So alone. And Auntie is sick, and and…I just missed you." She finally broke down, and all Gai could do was surround her with his arms. She cried and cried more. How could Gai ever tell her about Lori, he loved her too much to tell her?_

-ss

Baki looked over the stadium. The trees were placed a little differently this year, and the hole Naruto made was still there. It was like the chunnin proctors kept it there as a little monument to the blond boy. The chunnin's were just finishing their sweep of the stadium. He heard footsteps behind him.

"Honey" a mother's voice said, "We are here in plenty of time, we don't have to worry about getting seats. The exams don't start till another hour."

"Mom I want you to get the BEST seats though."

"How do you know which one is the best?" The mother asked sighing heavily. Baki was done scanning the stadium so turning around he saw a small red haired girl scanning the stands, reviewing each and every one of the seats. And her mother he supposed behind her. The mother was rather pretty, strikingly blue hair, and grass green eyes. She had the hair tied up in a low bun, and a rather common kimono on. There was something about her that Baki just couldn't place.

Maybe it was the way she carried herself, it seemed odd for a woman of her low standing, to stand like that. He felt like he should know her, he felt he did know her…What could it be? The women turned and faced him. Baki had never seen a woman age as gracefully as this one, all the wrinkles in her face you could tell was from laughing, and her eyes still held a sparkle of youth in them. Suddenly the bright green eyes widened in recognition, and Baki felt his stomach plummet.

Kin just wanted to run; out of all the people from her past she thought she would see again he was the last. Well maybe her father was the last, but her father was dead, so that was understandable. If it was dignified to run away, Kin would already be out of the stadium. Was she supposed to go up and talk to him? Was she supposed to just nod and smile? Even though she only saw half of his face, Kin knew that chin and eyes anywhere. Maybe it wasn't him; maybe it was just an almost exact replica of him.

"Kin?" He said in a gruff bass, so unlike the beautiful tenor of her husband's. Oh crap, it was him; there was no mistaking it now.

"Baki" She said, out of politeness she stepped closer to the man, age had not done this man any favors. Kin didn't bite her lip, even though she wanted too. Poor Baki, he looked so old. She wondered to herself if he would have looked this old if she had married him. "What are you doing here?" At least she could stay for small talk.

"I'm here for the exams," Kin saw him puff up his chest a little; "I'm the ambassador of the Kazekage's to the Daimyo's and elders now. So I'm here to observe. What are you doing here? You never liked these sorts of things before."

Kin felt her face crease, she was good at reading people, and he felt uneasy around her. Threatened almost. Relaxing her face a bit she held a small smile, Baki was always one to go in for defense when it was unnecessary. "My daughter," She saw his eyes widen "Kaida is in the exams." She nodded towards her daughter, who was sitting down in each of the middle seats and looking at the stadium. Totally wrapped in her own world. She could see Baki look and he straightened up anymore.

"So, are you still with…?"

"Lido yes…And I'm very happy"

"That's good…I thought his family was…"

"Pacifist? They mostly are, we were both really reluctant, but it's what she wanted to do." Kin said. Baki looked so old. So, so old, it had been about 12 years. Since she left him.

Baki's mind raced as he saw her, 12 years ago, he had found a note the morning of his wedding. "Dear Baki, I found my heart and I intend to follow it. I hope you will find yours one day. Whatever happens I don't want you to blame yourself. I fell in love with a man named Lido, we are leaving to see the world and start a family. I'm sorry about you loosing the Daimyo's position because of me. I'm sorry we won't be having walks in the gardens together every Sunday, I will miss those. I will miss you. You will always be in my heart. I hope you find someone who makes you feel as amazing as Lido makes me feel. We might never see each other again, but please remember, I love you. –You're dear dear childhood friend Kin." He had memorized that letter and it had haunted him for 12 years. Of course he had known that she wasn't in love with him, they had talked about it numerous times when they found out they were engaged. But at the time, Baki had been looking forward of growing old with this woman, and being happy with the great fondness they had for each other. Then she just left.

Baki didn't know how to continue the conversation, should he comment on the weather? On her family? He didn't want the conversation to end, but he didn't know how to continue. "Your niece Sylvia took after you, She just married the Nanny to her younger siblings. It was quite the scandal, but he's handling himself in the political arena rather well for a person who was never to be in it. "

Kin's eyes went bright with interest, "So my cousin still in the Daimyo's position, good for him." She put her hand on her face, "Learning that little Silly got married makes me feel old. I remember changing her diapers. And the Twins! It's been a while since I thought about them. Lido and I were just moved in to Konoha with Kaida when they were born. They can't be more than oh, 6 years old."

"They are celebrating their 7th in a month." Baki replied. Kin looked away into the distance. He felt himself smiling down on her. She hadn't changed at all. Even when she was disowned she managed to keep track of everybody. Baki never had that gift. "Kin, may I ask you a personal question?"

She looked back at him, her eyes still sparkling with nostalgia, "Of course."

"Are you Happy? Did you feel like you made the right decision." She looked away and out into the stadium.

"My life, its defiantly not as easy as it used to be, but…" She looked back at him and gave him one of her genuine smiles, The wrinkles it made in her face was deep, she looked old, but there was still so much life in her. "I wouldn't change it for the world. I love my family, and I love what I do. I hope you feel the same way Baki."

He had to stop and think for through the years. After Kin had left he had thrown himself into his work not thinking. He became one of Suna's most promenade Jounins, and before he knew it he was put in charge of the Kazekage's children. Flash backs ran through his hand, Kankuro trying to work his first puppet, Temari trying to lift her first Fan. The first time Gaara really smiled and held a conversation with him. Now look at them, Kankuro was the leader of the black opps and renown puppeteer, Temari blew her enemies away, not just with her fan but with her tactical and political genius. Gaara was the Kazekage who really cared and cherished all the people in Suna . He had never met that special one person who Kin had referred to in that letter. Because all three of them had his heart, and he would protect them no matter what it took. Baki felt himself give a big smile. "I do feel the same way Kin, I am very happy, I might not have a traditional family, but I have one just the same."

"I'm glad to hear that, now excuse me Baki, Kaida looks like she's about to have a stroke with all this excitement." Then the blue haired phantom of his past walked away, and Baki felt a little weight lift off his shoulders.

-k-

Max woke up early, his nose was stuffy. That was the only thing he could really complain about these past 4 days after he moved in with Zaki. The mattress was on the living room floor and there was just so much dust it clogged his poor nose. But never mind that, he had an hour and a half to make Zaki a wonderful breakfast, he wasn't going to make the same mistake as last time. That must have been embarrassing. He had snuck pancake mix and bacon passed her late last night. She usually only had a bagel for breakfast. As he turned over , he smiled, she slept on her side facing away from him, and her long grey hair was fine and somewhat greasy in the morning light. She was wearing an old wife beater and boxers, her favorite type of PJ's. Rolling in the other direction he hit the floor with a thud.

As he pulled out the small mixing bowl they had, he added a couple other cooking items to the list of what they needed. He had started to make list of what he needed to do to make the house better, the first thing he was planning was fixing the stairs and greasing the hinges on the door. Then replacing the back door. Then it was winter so it would focus on repairing the bedrooms one room at a time. When spring came around the back porch was going to be torn out and he was going to redo it. After the Chunnin exams Zaki and him were going to sit down and discuss their financial situation during the next year. If he started asking for overtime and working weekends, he might make up to 500 dollars every two weeks, and depending on her salary, Zaki could make up to 1000 in a 1 week C ranked mission. With that sort of money they could make their house a home. The frying pan sizzled signaling to Max it was ready for the pancake mix. He heard a low yawn coming from the living room. Zaki was awake.

"Is that, food?" He heard her groggy voice from the living room.

"Yes I'm making you breakfast, you have a half an hour to take a shower, then breakfast will be done." Max informed her.

"Shower," she agreed like a zombie. He heard her feet stomp up to the bathroom. 15 minutes went by as Max made his pancakes. His thoughts meandered to almost everything in the house. He had fixed the shower head already that didn't take long. He was going to have to borrow more tools from Allie as the weeks went on though. With his minds drifting to Allie he thought of the letter she gave Zaki. The girl hadn't opened it. She set it up on the mantel piece as though afraid to touch it. Zaki must have known the hand writing, she didn't tell him who it was from though. The image of the grey haired man jumped back into his brain, he hadn't seen a dead person in 4 days. 4 wonderful days! Since Zaki's birthday, some ghost seemed to hang around people, like the boy with his parents. Or a place, like the grey haired man. Once Zaki's birthday popped into his head, his thoughts meandered to the watch.

He still hadn't given it to her. At first was because he didn't want to compare it to the Kimono the kazekage got her, then it was because he was moving in, then it was he was fixing the shower and the sinks and a couple other things. Then she left for something the day before. But he figured it would be a good birthday/thank you/good luck gift for her. He set the table and noticed that it wobbled. He got the phone book and stuck it under it to make it level. He put 2 pancakes on a plate with 4 strips of bacon on the right side. He laid the watch down off her plate on the left side right next to her knife.

As Zaki came down she had her grey hair up in a low pony tail her forehead protector was actually on her forehead. The blue in the fabric made her striking hazel eyes disturbingly yellow. Her shirt was black, it was snug fitting by her standards, but for most people they would consider it too large. It wasn't like she was swimming in it like she usually did with her other T-shirts. She had the excess of the fabric tied and tucked in the back of her shirt. Her waist was covered by that belt pack Yamato had just gotten her and she wore nice fitting army green caprice.

"Pancakes!" She smiled and sat down grabbing her fork and knife right away to start cutting. She globed the syrup on along with the butter as she stuffed the food down her throat. Max just ate his silently, he liked his pancake plane. After she gobbled down the first two she got up to search for the napkins. "You're not going to wear that to the exams are you?"

Max looked down at himself, he had a white shirt with specks of bacon grease splattered all over it, he finished the un-kept look with torn flannel pajama bottoms. "I wasn't planning on it, but I guess if you feel this is appropriate."

Zaki snorted, "No, you are going to have to look presentable today, there are some old shirts of my father's that I've kept upstairs, those would be appropriate."

"Since when did you care what was appropriate?"

"I just don't want you to get kicked out before you even have time to break the rules." She countered, finally finding a cloth she could wipe her face on. She got herself a glass of orange juice from the fridge, when she sat down she finally noticed the watch. "What's this?" She picked up the watch like it was a ghost.

Max got up and turned on the water so he could start washing dishes "It's your birthday present/ thanks for letting me move in present/good luck." Max was afraid to turn around.

"Where did you get this?"

"A co-worker had it on, and I battered him for it."

"Where did he get this?"

"um he said the pawn shop between the dregs and Konoha," Max remembered.

"This must have cost you your entire pay check."

"Well it wasn't…ALL my paycheck" Max stood there wiping his plate clean and stood there, she wasn't saying anything. "So do you like it?" He finally asked. Instead of hearing a reply he was tackled from behind by a big hug. Zaki's arms were wrapped around him and her forehead rested in-between his shoulder blades.

"I can't believe you found it." She whispered.

Max didn't know what she was talking about it was just a watch. "I just saw it and I thought it reminded me of your earrings." Max turned around in Zaki's arms, her forehead now resting between his chest. She tightened her grip and Max laid his arms around her delicately.

"This is the best gift anyone could have given me." Max just stood there silently enjoying being close to her. "This was my father's watch, He traded it for my skateboard, and the skateboard was my birthday present. That's why I was so upset when it was broken, by that sound bitch." Zaki was crying again and she clung to him tighter not looking him in the eye. Finally she stepped back and wiped away the tears on her face. "I know this sounds stupid, but this month, I've kind of been lost. When I asked you to stay here, and decided not to move into the apartment Gaara offered me, I was afraid I was making the wrong choice…. I was going to say yes to his apartment, I had every intention to," Finally her voice broke and she started sobbing. "Then Allie gave me that letter, with my father's hand writing, and I just decided to stay on a whim, then I asked you to stay, and you did…and, and now getting his watch. And now you just gave me," She couldn't continue any more she was crying so hard. Max ushered her towards a chair in which he sat down, then he gently pulled her onto his lap. The grey haired beauty didn't resist she just rested herself against him.

Max took his hand and stroked her hair softly, the pony tail was starting to be loose, and neither of them cared. He made quiet shushing sounds as she tried to rain in her emotions. Her perfect chin was trembling and her hazel eyes were red with tears. Max just wrapped his arms around her and gently kissed her temple. "It's going to be all better, I promise." Finally she looked at him, and smiled. Glancing down at the watch in her hand she sniffed a little.

"I think somebody is watching out for us."

Max couldn't help but smile in return, as he rested his forehead against her's, "You have no idea."

-s-

Adara walked with her brother and Temari to the Chunnin grounds, She was between the two 'not' love birds. Everyone knew those two were 'not' together, Adara couldn't understand why they couldn't just make it public. Their glances towards each other were starting to annoy her. She wasn't as small as she used to be, she came up to Shikimaru's nose and Temari's chin, and she could see the love glances between them. She had wanted to walk with Keiji to the exam, but her father, having an irrational dislike of him made her walk with her brother and his 'not' girl friend.

"So Adara are you nervous?" Temari asked, that woman needed to stop trying to be nice to her.

"I met your brother the other day," Let's get this topic away from her.

Temari perked up a little, "Which one."

"The Kazekage." Adara finished, really Temari was good at a lot of things sucking up was not one of them.

"Oh you were at that party thing…with that girl…"

"Zaki, her name is Zaki." Adara countered. She saw the sand jounin purse her lips. Temari didn't approve of Zaki, not a lot of people did at first. Her mother had thrown a fit when she sniffed the cigarettes after Adara's party.

"Did you eat breakfast this morning?" Her brother interrupted. The static between his sister and his lover.

Adara rolled her eyes, "No, I somehow eluded are mother enough for her to just let me walk to the exams with you guys." She looked at her brother who smirked, more at himself than at her. "Don't worry mom tied me up and forced oatmeal down my throat just like she did with you."

"you're mother ties you up and forces you to eat oatmeal?" Temari asked.

Adara just looked at shikimaru, "Do they not have sarcasm in Suna?"

"It's a new concept."

Then they were there, at the gate the chunnin's getting the tickets nodded at them and motioned towards the side door. The Adara frowned to herself, this was it. The three of them walked in a deserted hallway in silence. Shikimaru pointed Adara towards a door on the left, "that's where the examinees are to wait until you are called on to the pitch. Adara was about to walk in when her elder brothers hand's rested on her shoulder. She turned around and faced her brother. "I want you to know, that if you feel over whelmed, just give me a signal and I will stop the battle." Adara's eyes bulged he was not doing this. "The exams are over, if one of the opponents are unable to battle, they concede OR the proctor calls the end to the fights." He was, he was telling her that she could chicken out! Adara didn't even know how to respond she just raised her eye brows and gave Shika the 'really?' look. He removed his hands and stuffed them in his pockets, 'I'm just saying that's always an option." Adara shook her head and went through the door.

Shikimaru looked up and saw Temari's aqua marine eyes looking at him, they had that 'really?' look to them as well. "What?" He asked defensively, the blond just shook her head. Shikimaru felt his face grimace he always hated the chunnin exams. He started walking towards the pitch, he felt an arm wrap under his. Then Temari's hot breath on his neck.

"Remember 4 years ago?" She asked, Shikimaru's face burned. It was the second chunnin exams they had proctored together. It was a month worth of Temari flirting and shikimaru being driven insane. Then a half an hour before the exam started, Temari flung him into a closet and pinned him against a wall. Then teased him until he couldn't think anymore, promising him more fun if he did a good job on his paperwork after the exams. Shikimaru saw Temari's eyes dart to a door, it was the same closet as 4 years ago. A part of him knew he shouldn't let himself distracted before the exams, especially when it came to Temari and closets. But that part of him was no fun.

-s-

Keiji sat on the bench in the tester's room, The sand trio were there and so was all of Kristi's team. Kaida said she had to go to the bathroom. By the wall Lee and Hinabi stood like statues, waiting for something to happen. The only one's not there were Adara and Zaki.

As though on cue Adara stepped in the door, she had her hair up in a high pony tail like usual and most of her basic training garb was on. She waved to him, he waved back, and she walked towards him and took a seat next to him. Her eyes were fixed on the sand trio, and the one she had to face. He was the one with the baggy hoody on along with baggy pants. He was standing still as his two other team mates leaned against the rail. Keiji felt his face blush as he saw Isis, she was wearing skin tight purple leather jacket, and some sort of skin tight black fabric as pants, it wasn't leather but it kind of looked like it. The whole outfit looked more like a body suit then a two separate pieces. A body suit was the wrong word for it though, Gai and Lee wore body suits, and she wore something entirely different that made her look…yeah.

A sharp voice broke his concentration, "What are you looking at?" It was Adara looking.

"Nothing," His voice broke right as he was saying it, he had to fight a blush on his face. "I wasn't, I was, um nothing." Adara scowled and looked away crossing her arms around her chest.

"Whatever," She finally said, Keiji didn't know why she was mad at him but she was. Keiji was about to apologize, until he saw Zaki walk through the door. He waved at her and she smiled, she walked towards them. Her face was flush. But other than that she looked very put together, her hair was in a low pony tail and gold lightning ear rings dangled from her ears.

"Good you haven't started yet!" She smiled looking at a watch by her wrist. Adara looked at the clock on the wall. The exams should have started 5 minutes ago, where was her brother?

-s-

Gaara waited in his seat by Tsunada, "Where is your proctor?" He asked as he saw that the exams needed to start 5 minutes ago.

"May I remind you, that we are also waiting from one of Suna's proctors also." Tsunada retorted. Gaara didn't have a reply, they were waiting on both Shikimaru and his sister. The chunnin's reported seeing them come into the building over 30 minutes ago.

"They will both show up, don't worry." Baki encouraged from behind Gaara. Not knowing what to do, Gaara browsed the roster again. The first exam was with the sand gennin his brother was looking to recruiting for more puppitering training, and Shikimaru's little sister. She had seemed pleasant during the birthday party. Not at all like shikimaru who wasn't engaged in anything. She seemed to have a keen eye at every spot and was dynamic in her opinions. When shikimaru saw something he let it rest, pushing it to the back of his mind. She saw something and pounced on it right away. Gaara had, had a political spar with her on a couple different subject matters, and she let no error slip by her. It would be interesting to see how she worked in a battle.

They heard clicking from the door, and Gaara knew it was his sister rushing to get to his side. He looked at saw her, but she wasn't put together. Her Kimono was a bit loose and her four signatures pony tails were all gone and her hair was down. She looked a lot warmer with her hair down, Gaara enjoyed it down. But it was not his business so he never commented. Her tan face was flush and she blinked at him. She cleared her throat and took her place.

Then there was a rush of cheers from the stand, Shikimaru lead the potential chunnin to the arena. All of them were lined up by team, all were waiving slyly to the audience.

-s-

Kaida looked at all the people cheering and hugged her Yo to her chest. She had debated even bringing him in the first place, but she had justification of him being a useful tool to pull out weapons from. Secretly she just like the feeling of his tattered fur on her skin. When she was younger her parents told her that the teddy could fight away nightmares. Now he was helping her fight away real terrors. While everyone else was quietly waiting in the room, Kaida had been scouting the stands for a better picture of the overall stadium. She already had a mental map of the arena, She scanned the ground measuring the distance of the walls to the middle.

After a while she looked at the others, they believed that the fight started when the proctor called start, the fight started the moment they left the forest of death. After the cheering died down they were ushered into the room again, the only two staying on the field again Nara Adara, Sachmeth Thoth. They were 20 paces away from each other looking at each other directly.

Kaida looked at Keiji, he was twitching his knuckles white as he gripped the railing with his hands. If he continued to apply that much pressure on them he would break them. She put a hand on his shoulder, he let out a slow breath. "You seem nervous." A chirpy voice from behind Keiji Said, Kaida looked, it was that girl with purple hair that broke Zaki's skate board. Zaki on her left stiffened and walked to sit down, so she wouldn't have to talk to the sand girl. Keiji just looked at her, he seemed to be ogling something, a faint blush spreading across his face.

"A little." He admitted as he coughed a bit.

The purple haired girl pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled at Keiji, his blush seemed to be getting worse. She laid her hand gently on his bicep, "I'm sure you will do fine Keiji" Kaida rolled her eyes, she really hoped that this hormonal stage of her team mates would ware off soon.

Keiji cleared his voice again, But that didn't stop it from braking, "I think we should concentrate on the fight, it's about to start." The girl giggled and Kaida died a little inside.

-s-

Shikimaru looked at his sister, it was moment like these that made him realize that his sister was his mother's daughter. Not only did she look like the spitting image of Yoshino, but she had the same fire in her eyes when she was determined about something. "Ok so here are the rules," he finally said as people settled down, "The Exam stops when one of the opponents is unable to battle, Or," Shikimaru wanted to emphasize this part, "When I SAY it stops, anybody who continues to battle after that will be disqualified is that clear?" His sister nodded and the Sachmeth shrugged. Shikimaru felt his stomach fall, this guy looked tough. "Ok Go,"

Adara was the first to move, trying to back track and get father away from Sachmeth. Right after her feet started moving, the boy pushed he sleeves up. Moving very fast, whipping Shurikan at Adara. She dodged it getting slower and slower each time. Shikimaru felt his stomach sink lower, she was going to be defeated within the first five minutes if she kept this up.

-q-

Keiji felt his grip tighten on the bar, What was she doing? The guy was leading her into a trap, the Shurikan's he was wiping at her had chakra strings on them. Keiji could see them from above, he didn't think Adara could though. She was faster than this. She was just waiting for Sachmeth to make all the decisions. He was controlling the battle field. Finally one Shurikan hit her in her left shoulder.

-s-

Adara felt the sting of the weapon, It hooked on to her shoulder blade she winced, This hurt a lot more then she was used to. What was she doing? She yelled at herself, the boy was taking control of the battlefield she wasn't even trying. Her gut told her to wait though, to see what he could do. He was purposely missing her with the kunai, she could tell that, He was trying to get her to slow down. The Shurikan in her shoulder tugged a little, there was a CHAKRA STRING ATTACHED. She felt her shoulder move a little without her doing it.

That fucking bastard, he was waiting for clear shots to her joints, he would be able to control her shoulder movements from now on. Adara couldn't wait any longer, she sped up.

-s-

Gaara looked down on the arena, this was going to be interesting. Sachmeth used his enemies as a puppet making them move just like Kankuro made his puppets move with Chakra strings. Adara being a Nara could use her shadow possession Jutsu basically doing the same thing Sachmeth was doing with his strings. The sand boy had the advantage though, he already had one string on her shoulder, and chakra strings didn't take up as much chakra as the shadow possession. Adara was getting fast though. Sachmeth might have control of her shoulder, but she was dodging without relying on it too much, and the faster she went the harder it was for him to pull and tug on her shoulder. When she got closer it took him a while to reel in the string and keep it taught. Adara could have easily broken the string attachment by now, why hadn't she?

His sister's voice echoed behind him, "I thought she would be better," It was sharp and harsh.

"Don't count her out just yet," Gaara commented dryly. Adara's technique was, unconventional. She moved around too much to have been trained by her father and brother only. Just by looking at her he could tell that her sensei had to be Neji. The stance's she was using was basic Hyuuga, the soft flow, this let her weave and wave with sachmeth's pulling, but the more she sped up the more her flips looked more like Lee's and Gai's. Neither Shikaku or Shikimaru had as much speed as Adara was showing right now. If she stopped letting to boy control the field she might get somewhere.

-s-

He got her leg now, right above the knee her left calf was now his. He might have her but she knew him. When she tried to go against his pull he could easily pull back and gain control, if she tried really hard it would be a stalemate and they both would stand still in a test of will and chakra's. But when she went with his control and added more emphasis to the move, he lost control for a good second sometimes 2. Adara had the same problem with her shadow possession, if the person went with her movements it was harder to control them, if they tried to go the extra mile. They were rookie problems as her father called them. As long as she had her wrist she had him.

-s-

"Keiji aren't you listening to me?" Isis voice asked him, Keiji didn't want to draw his eyes away from the fight. Adara was just hit by another kunai. He was aware there was a slight buzzing in the background when he was concentrating on something else so he just ignored it. It took him a while to realize that it was Isis talking.

"Sorry Isis, I have to concentrate on this fight." Keiji just wanted her to go away.

"Well I was just saying you look like somebody is possessing you…" As she continued talking Adara was hit by three other kunai, one right above her ankle, her other shoulder and her other knee. As the boy moved his arms to take full control of Adara's body with the strings she stopped, and used all her force to bring herself to a stop. Her hands quickly moved and Keiji knew that if he blinked he would miss something important. Her shadow quickly moved with the chakra strings to touch Sachmeth's shadow. He tried to move but he couldn't. Keiji couldn't help but let out a yell of excitement.

-s-

Gaara raised an eyebrow, this was finally starting to get interesting. They were in a stalemate now. They both did the same thing, trying to control their opponent's actions, now they had each other locked off. If one tried to move the other would stop them, it was a test of chakra and wills. He didn't know which one would win. Sachmeth's chakra's strings didn't cost him a lot of chakra, none at all. While Adara's possession cost a lot, but her's couldn't be cut. Chakra strings were thin and could be cut easily. Sachmeth hadn't really had reason to sweat up till now. Adara didn't have reason to celebrate though, she just got herself a stalemate. She needed to do something to actually control the field. Right now she was not showing herself as chunnin material.

-k-

Adara had to look like he was stronger than her, he had to think he had gained control back. He knew that she had some sort of possession on him but he didn't know to the full extent just that it stopped him from moving as easily as he used to. He struggled to get his hand to his pouch and pull out a kunai, Adara readied herself to get more sharp objects in her skin, and she reminded herself that sometimes you had to give a little to get a lot. As they penetrated her skin she just felt a dull throb. Sweat was on his forehead she was getting to him. She could feel the tension he was using to pull her hands in the air and move her arms.

She had to let him feel confident, he moved her back and she let him, he moved her arms in a steady circle. Adara realized that she had to cut her jutsu

-s-

Shikimaru wanted to tear his hair out, she still had possession, why wasn't she letting it disappear. Did she want to lose? Was this to spite dad? What the hell was she doing, she had given up at least 15 things she could have used to win it already. Sachmeth had pulled both of her arms so both of her hands were pointed to the left of her, he was moving so they were outstretched, slowly having them circle around her head.

Then it happened, Adara followed his movements with more effort than he had originally attended. This caused Sachmeth to freeze for long enough for her to take 5 steps forward. The strings slackened and Adara had time to do a jumping twirl up in the air, the strings were too loose for him to take advantage of. Adara used her height advantage to throw daggers at him. Sachmeth panicked and threw the shurikan's to stop them, he blocked all the ones that she threw. Inadvertently though he cut all the strings that were attached to her. Adara landed 40 feet away, and her shadow spread to the boy the minute she landed. He stepped back to avoid the shadow. Just to run into another one.

Shikimaru's eyes widened, she had sent two shadow's out at the same time, one of the distracting him so the other would catch him from behind. He was stuck, she had full possessions.

-jj-

It was the end of Sachmeth Thoth, The daggers he had knocked away. Adara had planted them in a circle around where he was now trapped. All of them had exploding tags on them. Adara was just going to make him stand there as he was blown up. Both of Gaara's eyes raised. Well that was a nice surprise, she might have some potential after all. Not bothering to pay attention to the rest of the fight Gai looked at the roster. Yamagochi Kristi vs. Keitaru Kristi.

"Sachmeth Thoth is unable to battle, Nara Adara is the winner!" Shikimaru announced to screaming applause. So far this exam was going very well.

-k-

Keiji felt himself applauding and yelling with the crowd. She was ok! She was ok! She was OK! Adara was ok, she limped off the field to be rushed by medics, looking towards her wounds. "You seem a lot happier." Isis said from besides him. Keiji turned around, he had almost totally forgotten that she was there.

"Yeah, just happy my friend won that's all" Keiji said, he wondered if Adara would have to stay in the infirmary during his fight. He looked over past the purple haired girl. The platinum blond had her hair up in a side pony tail, her blue/green eyes smirking as she eyed him up. Kristi was used to him in the academy. She didn't know him now, she was already underestimating him. He smiled at himself, he could do this. He felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked around, to see a smile from Isis, her eyes and hair just shinning in the light. She stepped closer and he felt her chest against him. His mind clogged.

"Good luck Keiji, I look forward to facing you in the last match." Heat rose to his face she was so close, and that fabric was so thin.

He felt his voice break even before he opened his mouth, "Thanks for the confidence."

"Has anybody ever told you that you are adorable?" She asked him stepping back and placing her finger on his nose.

"No," Keiji felt flushed, no girl had ever treated him this way before. It was really nice. She giggled and Keiji felt a forced laugh come from deep in his throat. "I have to go , but yeah uh, see yah, after words." He went towards the door, Kristi right behind him. As they walked down the hall he felt the girls eyes on him. He looked at her, "What?" He asked she was judging him.

Her voice was annoyingly high, "You are so adorable" She fluttered her eyes at him. "Really KEIJI? Seriously…ARE YOU BLIND?" The girl then slapped her forehead in frustration. Kristi was always a passionate person who used her hands when talking, she was really upset about something. She threw her hands up in the air, "I can't…I mean; do you not notice anything? And poor Adara, and your just standing there with that sand …URGH! YOU ARE SO OBTUSE KEIJI," the blond threw up her hands up in defeat and stomped into the arena. What did he do?

As he went into the arena there was some small applause for him and Kristi. He started slowing his heart rate down. Kristi didn't know what was coming and she was going to be impressed. He had no idea what that thing in the hall was all about, but this was about him proving himself.

Shikimaru pointed to their locations on the arena. Keiji took his spot. One deep breath and listen to Shikimaru's voice. He sounded bored, "Ok so the game stops when one of the opponents is unable to battle or when I stop it. Do you two understand this?" Keiji nodded the blond nodded her head too.

"Go."

-s-

Gaara had to really concentrate on this fight, really he didn't care about this one. He only cared about one's with interesting people in them. The blond was the first to move. She had unsheathed two Sai's and was running towards the boy he had his fist that seemed to be enough for him.

**I AM HERE TO INTERRUPT THIS FANFICTION TO ANNOUCE THIS, THE PACKERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL BABY! AND DA BEARS STILL SUCK! AHHHHH! AHHHHH! RUNNING AROUND THE HOUSE AHHHH AHHHH AHHH!WOHOOOO WOHOOOOO WOHOOOO ! now back to our fan fiction.**

The girl was faster than the boy, he blocked her easily though. They were stuck in a dodge punch dance that so many shinobi new so well. One punch with one dodge, to be followed by a kick. It was quiet Impressive that they knew each other so much they could predict each other's move's. Boring boring boring, This seat was comfortable though. He looked as Tsunada, "Are these seats new?"

"Yes we replaced them a couple of months ago, the others weren't up to code."

"They are really nice."

"They are, aren't they?"

-s-

Keiji felt like he was getting nowhere, he was fast enough to dodge her really bad blows, but she always knew where he was going to strike. There was something wrong with her sai's. They were glistening, it was hard to notice, but when he had to bend over backwards so they wouldn't cut his face off he saw they were covered in some sort of substance.

Now Keiji wasn't really a planer, he didn't get strokes of genius during a battle. He just went with instincts, his instincts told him that whatever was on those daggers, was not apple juice. Don't get hit. He wished his instincts were a little keener though, as he felt the sai's rip through all up and down his triceps on his left arm. "Bitch!" He exclaimed as he kicked his legs up catching her in the gut flinging her backwards and allowing him enough time to flip in the opposite directions.

"What did you just call me?" Kristi asked as she got back on her feet.

Keiji's eyes widened, "No I didn't mean it like that, it just…" He pointed to his arm "it hurt, that's a bitch not you," They were about 40 feet apart both of them needed time to catch their breath. "No disrespect was meant." Keiji was panting hard, and so was Kristi, she put one of her hands on her knees and leaned over a little.

Her hand went up to stop his rambling, "non taken, I just wanted to make sure we weren't getting petty."

Keiji nodded, he wiped three kunai's out towards her. She countered with her own shurikan. Kristi had the same problem as Keiji, she wasn't a planner. But she had better instincts then he did.

Convulsions started taking over his body and he fell on his knees. "Shit Kristi what was on those daggers," She was already running towards him, this was going to be a short battle. As he tried to get off of his hands and knees his muscles wouldn't cooperate. He was stuck as he saw her feet right in front on his eyes which were glued to the ground because he was stuck here like a dog. A heel came through his left and slashed the side of his face. "Are those heels's new?" Keiji struggled and got back up on his knees he was looking up at Kristi.

His body had stopped convulsing, but he could no longer feel his left arm whatsoever.

-s-

Kaida was peeking through her hands, she couldn't watch. Keiji was there execution style looking up at Kristi, and she was just kicking him, then he got back up. He was taking a beating and just having to sit there and take it. She felt so helpless, she couldn't help him, that blond was just thrashing him. He couldn't do anything why wasn't he doing anything. He could do more than what he was doing?

She looked to the side, Parker and Micah were both looking happy as they saw their team mate beat hers. The sand girl looked bored. "Well this is disappointing," the purple haired girl said to her team mate. "He still cute though."

Her other teammate the one Zaki would be facing shrugged. "you just like any guy that is taller than you." The purple haired looked down on him.

"jealousy doesn't suit you." Kaida looked around, Zaki was sitting in the chairs looking up at the ceiling. She seemed as frustrated as Kaida.  
"Zaki," She said, Kaida felt herself cling to Yo. Keiji just needed to give up if he wasn't going to do anything about it!

The grey haired girl came up and squeezed her shoulder. "It's ok, Keiji's tough, you kick harder than that skinny thing."

-s-

Another blow to his face, "Yes actually they are new, thanks for noticing." Now the heels jammed into his gut. Kristi stopped, and looked down on him, "Keiji, I like you, that poison isn't going to let you move, I don't want to use potentially deadly force with my sai's to win, I just want to knock you out. Or you can make it easy on yourself and me, and give in."

Keiji's mind was getting blurry. "Those shoe's they don't seem very comfortable."

"Once you get used to wearing them they frankly aren't that bad," Kristi shrugged. She kicked him again, things were so blurry now. "Aren't you going to give up, take a hint! I'm getting bored."

"Sorry, I believe some people call me obtuse, Remembering the breathing exercises Hinata taught him, and he started to regain his vision. Control that's what he needed. He needed to remember what he had studied, about muscles and chakra spots. The next hit seemed more bearable.

"Keiji, please just get the message."

"What message?" He asked taking another breath, his mind raced towards his chakra system he was cleaning it out, just capturing his poison, just remember that it was in his mind and that there was no poison. Who knew that those Tao books he was forced to read would come in handy. Her heel kicked him again, what would Kaida do? Think of something really smart, and just do it, what would Zaki do? Well at least he would be able to do that, "The message that your 14 and you're wearing hooker heels? I really don't give a crap you have a daddy complex." Kristi stopped and looked shocked, that was something very un Keiji like to say.

"I thought we weren't going to get petty? But I guess we will have to, She pulled her sai's out and held one over her head. She was going to aim for the spot right between his neck and his shoulder, it wouldn't kill him right away, and an experience medical ninja right away would be able to handle it. But today was not Kristi's day, and this was not her match either. This was Keiji's. Taking one deep breath as her hand came down, everything seemed to slow for a minute, and he caught it right before the tip penetrate his skin.

Kristi's aqua eyes widened in shock, "Yo-You shouldn't be—what?"

Keiji had control of her wrist, and as he rise up to stand as tall as possible, which made the girl look tiny. "Sorry I didn't get the message," the pressure he had on her wrist made her drop the dagger, He felt the blood pressure rise, and she had humiliated him unnecessarily. He should snap her in two. He took another deep breath, "This isn't personal." He broke her forearm, Then gripped her by the waist. With all his might he flung her towards the nearest tree, her small body crumbled at the impact of the tree. A part of him was praying she didn't get back up, he had to really try hard not to lose control and snap her in two, on purpose. He looked over at Shikimaru, the brown eyes seemed to be deciding something about him.

"Yagamochi Kristi is unable to battle, Keitaru Keiji is the winner," The crowd cheered, but they fell on deaf ears, Keiji just got out of the arena, he needed to be alone. He ran down the hall and threw himself into the first store room he saw.

-s-

Adara sat on her bed in the infirmary, She couldn't look through the window she had no idea how who had won. This was going to drive her insane, The crowd cheered and Adara wanted to slam her head against the wall. Really they couldn't have put any windows in this darn place? The medics burst in and ran the stretcher to the other room, they had taken Sachmeth into.

"Her pulse is fine, and there is only some minor bleeding by her intestines."

"But if the bleeding continues it could disrupt her liver."

"That's why we are going to stop it."

'Where's the other one, he has a paralytic and convulsive poison in his blood stream, he needs just as much attention."

Kristi was on the stretcher and she didn't look good. Adara felt torn, Keiji had won, but Kristi looked really bad. The medics rushed out and Adara took another breath. Keiji should be coming through the door then. When the door didn't open, she breathed again. Kristi had nasty poison's why wouldn't he come in for treatment. Why, for god sake why didn't he show up? She had to get up and find him.

The halls were empty, and the crowd was waiting for Lee and Hinabi to get into their positions. Her wounds would heal up just fine, the medics told her, and tomorrow in her next fight she should be perfectly new. She heard a noise from a door, a heavy breathing. Slowly she opened the door.

"Keiji," She said. Looking around, there was a small shelf that she could see through, Keiji was there his back against the wall, face in his hands. She was standing right in front of him now, there was a large gash on his shoulder. It was bleeding, and he was trembling. "Keiji."

"I don't want to talk to you right now."

"What happened?"

"Go away." He wiped away tears with the palm of his hands.

"Keiji," She leaned against the shelf, "you know what this reminds me of?"

"I don't care,"

"When we had just started the academy, you had failed a test, and those boys…they were picking on you, they followed you home. They started calling you names, calling your mother names…you lost control." Keiji was shaking so bad, Adara walked slowly over to him. "You then ran and hid yourself in an old garden shack." She sat down next to him, and put her hand on his not bleeding shoulder.

"That's where you found me, and told me you would help me study for the next test. I didn't know you knew the rest of it. Did you know that one of those boy's is no longer able to walk, cause I lost control."

"The rest of them are fine though, and they didn't bully anybody any more." Adara wrapped her arms around "Plus you met me that has got to be a highlight."

Keiji rested his temple on her shoulder and breathed in her scent. "I lost control with Kristi, if only for a minute, and if she would have gotten up, I would…things would have turned out worse."

"The medics say she's going to be fine, very little internal damages, broken bones are nothing to fix."

"You should have seen the way your brother looked at me." Keiji started to ramble, Adara's arms came up and stopped him. They were covered in his blood though. "I didn't mean for it, it was nothing personal, things just, Kristi has always been so nice to me, and I did that to her."

"Hey it was a fight, you are a shinobi, hurting people is what we do,"

"Not our friends, we aren't supposed to hurt our friends. People shouldn't trust me."

Adara looked into his yellow eyes, he looked so lost, and she didn't know how to help him. She usually knew what to say when he was like this. "I trust you."

**Sorry for the football reference, next chapter will come out soon I hope ! Um comment on my fight scenes if you are so inclined, cause I know I suck at writing them so I need all the criticism I can get ****! Thanks for TOP (sorry for the more teen angst by the way). For reviewing, and I know there are other people out there who read this please please please review. **


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